You DRAW me in (BTS) (Vkook)
by MangoCurry
Summary: Bonds are like snowflakes. No two are the same, and yet everyone has one. Except Jungkook doesn't have a bond or a soulmate. But, he does, however, get the chance of a lifetime, he gets the chance to meet his idol. That is if he can win the competition. Or: Taehyung is an idol and Jungkook is the college fanboy. AKA the soulmate AU no one asked for lmao
1. I

" _I feel there is nothing truly more artistic than to love people" - Vincent Van Gogh_

 _ **You DRAW me in**_

 _ **8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8**_

Bonds. Everyone has one, and they're all different. Each bond is unique to the soulmates. Sure, some bonds may be similar, but no two are the same. Just like snowflakes. When you turn eighteen, you get your bond, some are instantaneous, like a set of numbers on one's skin, counting down the minutes till you meet your soulmate or the first words your soulmate will say to you.

But others take more time to figure out. Now, it's been three years since Jungkook was supposed to get his bond, but so far nothing has happened. And he knows there's still the slight possibility that he will one day wake up and find his bond, but in all honesty, Jungkook had given. He believes his soulmate is dead.

Having a soulmate that's dead isn't unheard of, it's just uncommon. But, Jungkook knows some people who don't have living soulmates and still end up falling in love with someone. Jungkook wouldn't mind not having a soulmate, all he truly wants is to have someone love him. To want to wake up next to him, fall asleep next to him, et cetra.

But a small part of him says he's lying. Say's that when he wakes up each day, that he secretly hopes his bond will be there when it never is.

8-8-8

Jungkook wakes up that morning just not wanting to get up. He was in one of those moods where everything sucked and you wanted nothing to do with anyone because, well, _everything sucked_.

So, right now at five-fuck-everything-in the morning, he really wanted nothing more than to shut off his alarm and pretend that he didn't have to get up. But alas, the world is against him seeing as he has classes in an hour, dance practice later and then lunch with Jimin. After that it was really whatever, whether it be homework, cleaning his house, or doodling.

Grumbling, Jungkook shoves off the covers and twist his legs over to hang off his bed. He blinks lazily, mentally preparing himself for the day as he slips off the cotton sheets and on the floor. His feet hit the ground and the coolness of the waxed wood sends shivers up his body.

He showers quickly washing his hair with the shampoo he'd stolen from a hotel a while back when he went to Jimin's concert in Japan. Jimin had paid for everything, his plane ticket, his hotel (which was fucking amazing. He stayed in the suite and Jimin had come over and they'd hung out) and his seat at the concert. It was front-row and although Jimin had offered to get him a VIP backstage pass with it, he'd declined. Jimin had already done so much for him and he didn't want to abuse their friendship.

Anyway, back to the shampoo that smelled like a unicorn ate a leprechaun and shit out rainbows and butterflies and fucking gold. He'd confiscated them because they weren't the shitty travel-sized ones you normally got. Oh no, no, no, darling. They were full-sized fucking expensive bottles that he'd never be able to afford on his own.

He was a starving artist, _in college_. He can hardly afford the cup noodle he gets from the convince store down the road.

And they smelled like unicorn shit. But in the best way possible, so...

Toweling his hair, he changes into a plain white tee, a pair of blue jeans, and his timberland boots. Jimin had once seen his closet, and how it mainly consisted of the same white shirt, jeans, and a spare pair of boots, joking "What are you? A character from an anime? Why do you only have the same clothes?".

He had different clothes, but their numbers were pale in comparison to the amount of white tees. He just liked to wear what made him comfortable, and it was a plus not having to stress about what to wear that day when literally everything is the same.

He quickly makes a feeble attempt at styling his unruly black hair but gives up when he sees the time. "Shit, I need to go now if I want to stop and get breakfast." He grabs his keys and phone, pulling on a coat and rushing out the door.

Jungkook doesn't own a car. He knows how to drive, of course, and it's not like he _doesn't want_ a car. It's just that he can't afford one. If he can't afford normal food and has to steal shampoo from nice hotels, how the fuck did you expect him to afford a car? So, on this particularly chilly October morning, he walked. Like he always did, stopping into the campus cafe to grab a coffee and a dirt-cheap muffin on his way to class.

"Ah! Jungkookie! I was wondering if you were coming in. Here, I already got your stuff ready... The usual, right?" Seokjin calls looking up at the sound of the chimes, giving the younger a warm smile. Seokjin is Jugkook's personal favorite person at the cafe, maybe even in the whole campus, and that's not just because he gives Jungkook discounts.

"Yep! Thanks, Hyung." Jungkook returns the smile easily, sliding out his wallet to get the money once he reaches the counter. He pulls out the last ten dollars he owns, leaving the emergency twenty inside.

"Ah!" Sokejin gasps, clapping his hands and startling Jungkook a little. "Here, have some scones too, you look like you haven't eaten in a while." Seokjin reaches into the glass display, pulling out three frosted scones and sliding them into a bag. Jungkook's stomach yells at him to grab the bag. To just give Seokjin the emergency money and inhale the delicious pastries, because he had indeed not eaten in a while. Two days, to be precise.

"Ah, I really would, hyung, but I only have enough to pay for the coffee..." Jungkook trails off, glad that it was cold so he could blame that for the slight tint to his cheeks. This was truly a fight of self-control. He really, _really,_ wanted those scones.

Seokjin waves him off and pushes the bag of goodies over to the student. "It's on the house, Kook-ah. They're two days old anyway,"

Jungkook hesitates for all of two seconds, fighting with his stomach and his conscience, but soon his stomach wins and he's grasping the bag and coffee sending his hyung a grateful smile. "Thanks, Hyung! You're the best!"

"See you later! Have a good time in class, Jungkookie!" Seokjin's voice calls over the chimes as Jungkook walks out of the cafe and out on the pavement.

Jungkook is barely two feet outside the door when he opens up the bag and his nose is hit with the sweet smell of the scones. It was so cold outside, that Jungkook saw steam emitting from the scones. He picks one up and his mouth salivates as he looks at the white frosting, the way it steamed when he broke it in half. He bites into it, letting out an appreciative hum as the vanilla bean assaults his tongue.

Something about the way it tasted and how warm it was, lead Jungkook to believe it was not two days old. That they were probably baked fresh that morning. He smiles, thanking Seokjin for being the precious angel of a hyung he is for giving him this. He devours two of the scones, leaving one for later.

Some of his fellow artists and friends wave to him when he enters the class and he waves back, taking a sip of his coffee. He sits in a seat in the very back, next to his friend, Amber.

She's a foreigner from Australia. She has peachy pink hair that faintly reminded him of Jimin when he died his hair. She has naturally big, brown eyes that sparkled behind her the big, round frames of her glasses. She looked a lot younger then she was, which is something she hates, but she gets praised for a lot by their female classmates. Her smile could light up a room, much like Hoseok.

She was sassy, and a total perv, and she could be scary at times but Jungkook still loved her. Had ever since she punched him for touching her ass when it was the person next to him. She apologized profusely when she realized her mistake, but not before punching the other man's face too.

"Ah, so we meet again, Jeon." She says giving him a serious look, raising one eyebrow at him as she takes a sip of her energy drink letting out an over-exaggerated sigh of contentment when she swallowed.

"So we do, Boner." He purposefully mispronounced her last name, earning a smack on the shoulder and a glare. He laughs, and it's the first time he'd laughed in a week. Amber had left for a week, had gone to visit her sister who'd just had her baby in Australia. And, seeing as his only friends were her, Jimin, Hoseok, and Seokjin, he was basically all alone for that week holed up in his room when he didn't have classes.

"You little shit. You know it's Bonner. B-O-N-N-E-R. Bon- _nuh-_ eeerrr. Bonner." Her eyes were narrowed into slits, her mouth set in a tight frown which would've been more intimidating if it weren't for the holographic glitter on the slide of her cheek and the pink eyeshadow that made her look softer, more feminine. Because soft makeup doesn't scream scary. It screams pretty. And she is, Jungkook isn't one to deny it, but she's not his type, and vice versa.

Even if there weren't soulmates to distract them, they still wouldn't be each other's types. They're the perfect fit for friends, but not so much for dating.

Jungkook stops laughing and gives her a smile that shows off his teeth. The Bunny Smile, as Jimin and Amber liked to call it. "I know. I'm just teasing you, Amber-ssi." Amber crinkles her nose but lets it slide. Probably because she thinks it's cute how he says her name, it's almost the same, but not quite.

He says it like Om-burr ("Like you're cold," she explained one day). Jungkook doesn't see the flaw, and she only ever corrected him once because even with her help, he still messes it up a little. But she doesn't mind. Like he said, Amber finds it cute.

"Did you hear about our new projects?" Amber says as she drinks some more of her energy drink, looking over the rim of it at Jungkook.

"No?"

"Well, apparently we have to take pictures all revolving around the same theme, and then we're going to present them in a gallery for our finals. The same thing for our art class, except with, you know, like paintings and shit." Jungkook's eyes widen a fraction as he leans back in his seat, letting his head fall over the edge of it. He lets out a low groan looking at the now upside down classroom behind him.

"That's so much work, though! To prepare for one gallery is hard enough, but _two_? Around the same time? That's bullshit." Jungkook is going to be so stressed. To achieve this would cost him countless sleepless nights _and_ he'd have to give up not only his meals but also his daily coffees in order to buy the paints and supplies for the traditional art class he takes.

"Yeah. I can't believe we took both the hardest photography classes and art classes on campus. I don't know what possessed me to believe I could ever afford it. I mean college students are already fucking broke, but we're both _art_ majors. We're fucking dirt-shit broke." She grumbles next to him. Jungkook sits back up, opening his mouth to add to their little self-pity conversation when the teacher walks in. Instantly everyone stops talking, turning to greet her.

She smiles at them, bowing back and telling them all to sit. They obey, waiting patiently for her to start the class. After a moment of silence, spare the shuffling of the teacher's papers, she claps her hands.

"Okay class, by now I'm sure you've all heard of your assignments for finals," A murmur of agreement fills the room, "but if you don't, you can speak to me after class. For now, I'm here to talk about something very exciting. The art majors, that means everyone, not just this photography class, was given the chance to compete in a competition. The winner of the competition gets to meet a very famous idol duo." The class's attention is now at 100% at this news, "The rules are simple. You must do something artistic and submit it. But, it must be about one, or both, of the idols."

Someone raises their hand, and the teacher pauses, smiling, "Yes?" She questions and the student stands up. "Who are the idols, Miss. Chang?"

"Ah, I was just getting to that. The duo is none other than Mr. Park Jimin, and Kim Taehyung." A gasp overtakes the classroom, and whispers break out. Jungkook is shocked, eyes wide and mouth parted as he stares at the teacher. Sure, he could meet Jimin almost any day he wished, being his best friend, but Taehyung? That's a once in a lifetime opportunity.

"Now, not only will our school be competing, but also many other universities. But, this doesn't mean you don't have a chance of winning. I hope you all participate, and I look forward to the art you submit."

The rest of the class is a blur to Jungkook, whose heart is racing and his mind is working a thousand thoughts a second as he tries to plan out what he should do.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

"You mean there's a chance you could meet your idol?" Hoseok pants as he Jungkook rest on the floor of his dance studio.

"Yeah. But it's like reeeaallly slim chances, Hyung." Jungkook pauses to take a drink of his water, "So, basically it's this competition where you do something in the realm of art. So like, for example, take pictures of Taehyung, draw him, make a song about him, etc."

"Then what's the big deal? I thought you were into the artsy-fartsy stuff. I mean you did major in it so..." Hoseok asks as he pats the sweat off his neck and forehead with a towel.

"Well yeah, but thousands, millions of fans will be submitting their works, and I'm nowhere near talented as them."

"Oh shut up," Hoseok snaps, but when he helps Jungkook off the ground, the younger can tell he wasn't really upset. That is if the blinding, heart-shaped smile sent his way was anything to go by, "You're amazing and you know it. I know it, Jimin knows it, your peers and teachers know it. Hell, even the people who follow your weird, shrine-blog thing about Taehyung knows it." Hoseok walks over to the corner of the room, picking up a remote.

"But-"

"No buts, Jungkook. You just need to try. What's the harm in submitting something? That way even if you don't win, you can at least say you _tried_ instead of _I just sat at home moping about it_." Hoseok claps his hands after turning off the music that once flowed from the large speakers. A clear sign that he was getting ready to leave for his lunch break.

"Hyung-"

"Jungkook, I swear to the good lord if you put your art and yourself down one more time, I will not hesitate to smack you. Now, hurry up and get out of here. I want lunch before my dance class shows up, and you need to shower before meeting your friend."

Jungkook lets Hoseok shove him out the doors of HopeOnTheStreet without putting up a fight. He did need to shower, and he was hungry, so there was no point in resisting.

He showered quickly, changing out of his sweats and hoodie that he'd worn to practice in, and back into his normal white tee and jeans. He sends a text to Jimin saying he's on his way as he steps out his front door and out into the real world once again.

He reaches the restaurant he and Jimin had agreed on. He steps inside, standing in the doorway a little awkwardly as he looks around in search of his friend. A waitress notices him and makes her way over just as Jungkook sees Jimin waving at him from a table in the back. He bows to the waitress before scrambling over to meet his friend.

Jimin was wearing a mask and sunglasses, but the man gave off that kind, safe aura that Jimin always had. Jimin stands up, opening his arms for a hug and Jungkook examines his attire briefly;

Jimin looked good, but he always did. Today he was in a cream sweater with a faint knit zigzag pattern. He paired this with black slacks and a simple black belt. Even when Jimin was dressed casually, he still gave off an almost preppy-vibe.

Jungkook stepped into his friend's embrace, squeezing him softly and smiling as he's hit with the familiar mango scent of Jimin's shampoo. "Aigoo~ I missed you, Kookie," Jimin says as he releases his grasp on the younger so they can sit down.

"I missed you too, Jiminie-Hyung... How was your tour?" Jungkook asks as he sips the drink Jimin had already ordered for him. It's his favorite, and Jimin remembered it. I guess that's what being best friends for over fifteen years does to you.

Jimin pulls his mask down, revealing his pink, plump lips so his voice isn't muffled. "It was good... Although my favorite concert was the one you went to. The one in Japan... I had so much fun that night, sleeping over at your hotel room, playing video games and just... Just being us, you know? I miss that the most, I think... Oh! But I saw the pictures you got of Tae and me on your blog... Albeit there were remarkably more photos of Taehyung, but still. They were amazing!" Jimin's lips spread as he gives Jungkook a wide, honest smile. He could practically see Jimin's eyes disappearing behind the black lenses of his glasses.

The sight fills him with a warm sense of nostalgia. "Ah. I have more pictures of you on my computer from the concert. It's just my blog is more dedicated towards Taehyung than you..." Jimin pouts, and Jungkook hurries to add, "It's just that I don't like sharing you, Jiminie. I want to keep those pictures to myself. You are my best friend since childhood, after all."

"True, true. But you have to promise to send me the photos! I want to see what I look like from the fan's view. You know, not in the mirror, not in a selfie, but like down off the stage. What others see and stuff." Jungkook agrees just as the waiter comes by, the conversation pausing as they order their lunch.

"So, did you hear about that art competition to meet us?" Jimin asks once the waiter is gone and it's just the two of them again. Jungkook nods, sipping his drink a little so he didn't have to give a proper answer. "You're going to participate, right?"

Jungkook doesn't say anything as he averts his eyes to look out the window. Jimin lets out a whine, "But Jungkook! You _have_ to! If you win that'd mean you'd get to see me again! And for longer! Oh and, like you'd meet Taehyung or whatever, but you'd see _me_ again!" Jungkook rolls his eyes at his friend, stirring his drink with his straw.

"Oh come on, Jimin. You and I both know that my chances are one in a million." Jungkook says and Jimin opens his mouth to argue, but Jungkook doesn't give him the chance. "And besides, I can see you whenever I want. If you aren't promoting or on tour, that is."

"But-"

"And if I really wanted to, I could just get you to make Taehyung come meet me."

"Then why don't you?" Jimin asks the same question he always asks. He's offered a thousand times to let Jungkook come backstage, or to their dorm to meet his fellow idol. But, Jungkook simply won't let him. He refuses every time. Why? Because-

"Because I don't want to abuse our friendship like that, Jimin," Jungkook says as he stares at Jimin with a serious face, one that makes Jimin crinkle his nose cutely.

" _Fine,_ but you have to promise to at least submit one thing in the competition," Jungkook takes a breath, getting ready to deny this but Jimin is having none of it. "Please? Just promise...For me, Jungkookie."

Jungkook sighs, he can't say no to Jimin. He can always try, but he has always had a weak spot for his friend. In reality, they were like brothers. Jimin had been there for him through thick and thin.

He'd stayed by his side when no one else would, he was there when Jungkook's parents divorced, was there to help Jungkook stay out of jail, being the rebellious little shit he was. Jimin kept him level-headed. Stable. Jimin had been there when his dog died. He'd helped Jungkook find his passion for art and dancing. He'd done so much for the younger.

And in return, Jungkook was there to beat the shit out of kids when Jimin was bullied in school, was there when his friend starved himself into the hospital, urging him to eat just a little more. Jungkook had been there as moral support when he auditioned for BigHit. He had dropped everything and moved with Jimin to Seoul.

Jungkook was there to support and help the elder while he was a trainee and continues to do so even now when Jimin's one of the most popular idols around.

"Fucking- fine." Jimin's face beams as he cheers happily and Jungkook can't keep the smile off his face.

They talk and eat their lunch, but all too soon Jimin's phone goes off. "Hello?... Oh! Taehyung-ssi... I- yes, I'll be there soon... Mhm. Bye." Jimin hangs up his phone with a sad pout. "Kookie... I have to go. We have a photo shoot in an hour that I forgot all about... I'm sorry. I wish I could stay longer."

Jungkook tries to keep his smile happy and warm, despite the disappointment that filled his body. "It's okay, Jiminie-Hyung. I know you can't help it. Besides, we'll see each other soon enough." Jimin nods and waves the waiter over for the check. When his hand goes up in the air, his sleeve slides down just enough to show the black lines on his wrist, those that resemble a bar code. It's Jimin's bond.

Jungkook eyes it, giving it a little glare when Jimin isn't looking at him.

Fucking _why_ doesn't he get just one day, _just one_ , where he doesn't get reminded that he's forever alone? Well, that's a lie, he's probably not going to be forever alone, but he will be forever soulless... or Soulmate-less or whatever you want to call it.

"Lunch is on me, Kook," Jimin says easily, pushing Jungkook's hand with his wallet down and startling the boy out of his thoughts. Jungkook would normally protest, but he knows Jimin feels bad about leaving early and wants to make it up to him. So, he nods and thanks his friend. Besides, he would've had to use his emergency money, and today isn't an emergency, no matter how much he loved Jimin.

They stand up after Jimin gets his card back, and the elder pulls his mask back up. He drags Jungkook into a bone-crushing hug, sighing. "I'm going to miss you, Jungkookie. Today was nice, but I still miss you. You'd better win that competition, or I'll cut you." Jungkook laughs, despite he gets the feeling that Jimin is being serious. "I love you! Stay safe, you little shit." Jimin is pulling away from the hug with a sniffle.

Jungkook repeats the words easily, adding an "Eat more! You look like you've lost weight! You're going to fly away if a high wind catches you," to which Jimin smiles. Then, he's gone and Jungkook is left alone standing in a shop full of people.

He runs a hand through his hair, sighing. "I'm going to have to sell my liver to afford all the art supplies for my projects _and_ the competition.." He picks up his box of leftovers and slides his phone in his pocket.

He leaves the store feeling slightly better than before, but also a little sad that his time with Jimin is over.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

"Hey, Amber, does your neighbor still need someone to watch her kids? Yeah... Yeah, I need the money, so tell her I'll be there." Jungkook hangs up his phone, flopping down onto his bed. He stares up at the ceiling, with disinterest. He was going to have to watch two toddlers tomorrow, his free day, for two hours. Deciding that he was bored, Jungkook rolls over to grab some markers off the end table beside his bed. He begins doodling on the only free surface he had, which was his body.

His mind went blank as the cool tips of the markers swipe over the smooth skin on his arm. He hadn't even realized it, but when he was done he now had Jimin and Taehyung's face on his arm. Alongside it, Jungkook drew a very detailed butterfly, and whatever else came to mind.

Pretty soon his whole arm was filled with colorful pictures, but the portraits of the two idols were by far the best. Their faces a perfect recreation of the real ones, Taehyung's brown-gray hair perfect, Jimin's blonde one a little dull, but hey, he tried his best.

Jungkook hadn't drawn on his body in years, deciding that drawing on paper was just as good, but it felt oddly soothing to draw on himself. He smiles as he continues to draw, all thoughts of projects, art, soulmates, _everything_ leaving his mind as his body becomes calmer with each stroke he creates on his body.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-88-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

 _ **Taehyung's POV:**_

"Alright! Outfit change!" Someone called, and Jimin and I exchanged a look. This would be the fourth outfit change today, and hopefully the last. We were both ushered off the set, and into the backrooms where the stylist-noonas fussed over our makeup, hair, and outfits.

They picked out a short-sleeved striped shirt and a pair of blue shorts, going for a more casual look this time. "Aigoo, Taehyung-ah, you look so cute!" One stylist gushed, and I blushed. "Thanks, Noona," I muttered, and Jimin rolled his eyes from where he was getting his blonde hair curled.

We were ushered back onto the set, and not even two seconds after we began to model, the director called out to stop. Jimin and I looked at each other, confused. What had we done wrong?

"Taehyung-ah! I thought you said you didn't have any tattoos!" The director yells, and I flinch.

"Buh-but I don't...?" I said as Jimin gets up from behind me, to examine my body. He lets out a gasp, and I turn to look at where he was.

There, on my left arm, was an abundance of colored drawings, which had not been there before. "I- This-this isn't... I'm sure it's just a prank from Yoongi-hyung or... Can someone hand me something to wash this off?!" I said frantically as I looked down at my arm and a man scurried over with some wet wipes.

I pulled one out of the package and tried to wipe away the ink, but no matter how hard I scrubbed the drawings wouldn't come off. I scrubbed harder and more furiously, but even after my skin turned pink and was raw. "It-It's not coming off... Why won't it come off?!" I cried but no one answered.

Jimin grabs hold of my hand, stopping me from wiping at the skin anymore. I look up at him, and he's staring back with searching eyes. Then, he gives an uneasy smile. "I mean, I'm not upset you got a tattoo. But getting one of our faces is a little bit... I don't know," He says joking, and I look down to see that there was in fact our faces on my skin. It was masterfully drawn, each line crisp and clean. Whoever did this is undoubtedly talented. I just wish I knew how it got onto my skin.

"But, I honestly didn't get a tattoo, Jimin... I don't know how this got here. I wasn't there this morning... You've seen my arms when we were changing before. It wasn't there, right?" Jimin shrugs, acting nonchalant but I can see he's thinking hard.

The photo shoot ended early, due to my "tattoos" and Jimin and I were sent home. I decided to shower, muttering a goodnight to Jimin as I climbed up the stairs to the third floor, _my_ floor. Jimin has the second, and we share the first. Being so successful, we were able to get a penthouse with three floors, both of us getting one floor with the bedroom, walking closet, and bathroom. The first is the kitchen, living room, studio, etc.

In the shower, I have the water on hot, my mind thinking that if I wash my body in the hot water, scrubbing at my arms, that maybe the art will come off. So, I grit my teeth through the pain of the scolding water hitting my skin, and scrub hard. Then, something happens.

I see a flash of movement, and my eyes latch onto it. A black stroke appears on my arm, and with wide eyes, I watch as the letter J forms. Then, the letter T... And soon, a big red heart is being colored in around the letters.

I stare, dumbfounded as I watch the new ink appear on my skin like magic before it hits me. My soulmate is drawing on their arm. This is our bond.

Then, I look at the heart with the initials in it, T being me, Taehyung, but then I think what the J could be... My eyes glance over to the portraits of me and my partner, and I gasp. J for Jimin.

My soulmate is a bloody TaeMin shipper. That and they're fucking amazing at art.

But what do I do now that I know my soulmate is out there?

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

 **A/N:**

Hi. I haven't slept in 48 hours. Also, this chapter is really short, but eh. I'm lazy.

Bye

Jimin's outfit from the lunch date - 6389/5c8121bb6bb8626885615b38f7193cc76afd9a75_

And I don't even need to add Jungkook's outfit. We all know what it looks like lmao.


	2. II

**_"No, wait, don't answer that. I don't want to know about all those sketchy black market kidney surgeries you've been doing."_**

 ** _"You know people only have two kidneys, right?"_**

* * *

 _"I feel there is nothing truly more artistic than to love people"_

 _\- Vincent Van Gogh_

It had been a couple weeks since Jungkook last saw Jimin, and he wouldn't be surprised if it would be another three weeks. Maybe even a couple months. This was how it has always been since the elder debuted. Before when he was still a trainee, Jungkook and Jimin could hang out, would hang out at least four days a week. Now though, they were lucky if they got to call and talk to each other once every two weeks, much less actually seeing each other.

Jungkook had learned to accept this over the years, had learned to live on his own. At first, his heart ached from the distance between the two boys, had cried and told him that he wouldn't be able to live without being within two feet of the older boy. He had never been alone before. Sure, he didn't have friends growing up until he met Jimin in fourth grade, but he always had his parents to fall back on. But then when his parents got divorced he felt like he'd lost them both, that he'd lost that rock he'd leaned on for so many years before, and that he was only left with Jimin.

But he'd grown accustomed to relying on his friend because his older brother was never there for him. His older brother was probably the reason for their parent's divorce if he was being honest. When Jungkook was only seven or so his brother went spiraling down out of control.

He had made some...Risky friends, friends that were the farthest thing from what the impressionable teenager needed at the time. Soon he was doing drugs, stealing, gratifying everything in his wake, and soon he was in gangs. He was a total ass to everyone, everyone except their mother. She was his one exception. Sure, he'd yell and cuss and shove their dad around, getting shoved in return, but he wouldn't so much as raise his voice at their mother.

He was softer on Jungkook too, but he'd still yell and threaten him if Jungkook ever tried to intervene in those fights with their dad, ever tried to follow him to parties to make sure he was okay. Looking back now he thinks his brother was just worried that he might get hurt, that he would end up like his big brother.

But back then, Jungkook felt like his brother hated him, always yelling at him to stay away, always breaking one of his toys or throwing away his art to prove a point.

Jungkook remembered that his parents had a particularly nasty fight that covered everything from his brother to money.

He felt alone when his parents started yelling in the late hours of that night, thinking he was asleep when it was the exact opposite. He heard his father blame his mother for most things, one time even blaming Jungkook for something, he can't remember what, but his mother had screamed at him for it.

 _He'll never forget that night:_

 _Jungkook was silent when he slid out of his bed clutching his stuffed bunny to his chest; his padded softly down the hallway. His footie pajamas were feeling clammy with fear as he crept down the stairs, crouching down on one and hiding behind the railing. He peered into the living room and held his breath. He saw something that he was certain he should not have._

 _Jungkook's chubby cheeks were squished up on the cold wood of the railing as he tried to peek through the spaced in between the wooden pegs. He watched as his mother shoved her husband, screaming that Jungkook had nothing to do with this, that it was his fault just as much as it was hers. She yelled something about "Worthless whores" and Jungkook didn't even have time to say that she said a bad word, that she wasn't supposed to say bad words when he caught sight of his father._

 _Jungkook had never been so afraid in his life, not even that one time he was in the supermarket and had lost his mommy, no, that might as well have been someone jumping out and saying "boo" as a joke. No, that fear of being alone in a sea of people paled in comparison to this new fear. Because when his big wide eyes caught sight of his fathers face, how it was red with rage, how the vein on the side of his neck was bulging and looked like it might pop any second. Saw how his eyes flashed dangerously, his fists clenching and unclenching as his lips twitched._

 _His mother hadn't seen it, had kept yelling about those whores and the way his father smelt like cheap perfume, how he wasted their money on hotel rooms. She hadn't seen his hand coming either, but Jungkook had._

 _Jungkook had seen it just before the sickeningly loud slap and the thump of his mother falling to the ground echoing throughout the house as well. All was silent, no one breathed as his mother stared back at her husband in shock. The static from the forgotten TV sounded as if it was roaring as she scrambled, crawling away from him, hand clutching her cheek._

 _His father had backhanded her so hard she was thrown to the ground, and the young boy was frozen in fear. He was suddenly glad that he had used the restroom before going to bed that night, for he was sure he would've peed himself by now if he had not._

 _Jungkook let out a gasp when his father yelled, had looked like he was going to hit her again. He'd_ ran _down those stairs, nearly tripping over his feet as he did._

 _He'd ran right in front of his cowering mother, and had thrown his stuffed bunny right at his dad's face just before the hand could come flying down onto Jungkook. "NO!" He'd yelled as he felt his already stained cheeks get wet with his tears._

 _"J-Jungkook," His mother had breathed, surprised to see her son awake and out of bed. It was like his father had been woken up from some sort of trance when the stuffed pink toy hit his face, the fog of angry disappearing and clearing his vision._

 _He looked at Jungkook, then his wife who was still laying on the floor clutching her cheek, and then down at his hand mere inches from his son's cheek. He looked shocked that he had hit his wife, had almost hit their son who had barely started school. That he had succumbed to that blind rage and had hurt his family._

 _"I-I" He stammered, stepping back from the two crying people, "I didn't... Love, you know I would never... I need to go," He turned around and grabbed his jacket, keys, and wallet from the counter practically running out of the back door and into the cold night._

No one had tried to stop him. No one had tried to stop him from moving out two weeks later, a divorce already in the making, either.

Jungkook closed his eyes and forced the memory away, not wanting to relive the past. He stopped thinking about Jimin too, instead focusing on his phone.

He'd spent the majority of the week cycling through school, trying to find something for his projects, and trying to get money for said projects by watching Amber's neighbor's kids occasionally. ("No, no, no! Don't eat that!" Jungkook yelled, quickly picking the toddler he was babysitting up from the ground where it was trying to lick what looked like a moldy old hot dog (("Oh my god, get down from there!" "No, stop don't eat that!" "Don't you dare!" "Be careful! No running in the house!" "Don't hit your brother!" "OhmygodI'msosorry please don't cry!")).) He'd also gotten some cash from Hoseok for helping him teach a dance class on his free day, but that added to the babysitting checks didn't nearly add up to enough...

Now he was sitting on his bed, laptop by his feet, looking up how much a couple pints of blood sold for. He does not want to watch those kids again, no siree. Great kids, not so great amounts of stress because _"Jisoo? Jisoo?! Jis- Oh my god there you are! Don't scare me like that again-"_ and _"Please don't throw those blocks at the nice doggy. He's just trying to sleep and-_ _Jungwo, you drop that block! You do not throw that you-no_ ,no,no _! Leave it!"_

Hungry, Jungkook debates spending his emergency twenty dollars on takeout, too lazy to drive over to Hoseok's house and raid his fridge. He picks up his phone, tearing his eyes away from an article about a man that sold over five pints, passed out and was admitted to the hospital, but still survived. His screen was filled with notifications, and when he clicks on a message from Amber about their class, he sees there are a couple old texts from Jimin as well. Jimin and Jungkook texted once and while, but there were month-long periods where they didn't because the idol was too busy with promoting or getting ready to. Other times it was because Jungkook was too busy with school work, with trying to survive college life.

The text was two days after their lunch date, and Jungkook thought it was an attempt to encourage him, but he knew better.

Jiminie:

[ _Jungkoooook~ Look who I just so happened to run into._

 _Image_Attachment_

( _You know that if you win that competition like you'd promised, this could be you.)_ ]

Jungkook clicked on the image attached and rolled his eyes. It was a picture of Jimin and Taehyung holding up the award they'd recently gotten with their new single. Jungkook had replied back with a quick:

Kookie:

[ **What? I could get a picture with an award? Oh wow, what a dream come true.** ]

Jimin used to do this a lot back when he first learned of Jungkook's particular liking towards his partner. He used to send selfies of the duo, and say things like "Just say the word, Kookie, and you can meet him!" and "Come on, just let me pick you up, bring you over for dinner and you can meet him!" or his latest trend, "You know they give us free tickets to our shows... Backstage passes and everything. I could give you one if you'd like."

Jungkook always said no, and he's honestly a little surprised that Jimin has respected his wishes and hasn't sneakily set the two up. Say he'd have lunch with them both separately, and when he shows up and lies saying "oh! I must've forgotten that I had plans with you... Well, since we're all here why not all eat together?" only to ditch them and leave them alone or something.

Despite pushing Jungkook to meet Taehyung, he's never forced him. He'd stopped asking why Jungkook would never meet him after a while, tired of hearing the same old "I just don't want any special treatment, Jiminie. You know that I'm perfectly fine with knowing one idol, cough you cough, I don't need to use my best friend to meet another."

The truth is that while Jungkook didn't want to abuse his friend's status and relationship with his partner, he also didn't know what he'd do if he were to meet Taehyung.

He'd fallen practically in love with the boy when he'd heard his deep, rough voice and seen his dancing. And after he'd spent hours finding out more about Taehyung after he'd went to Jimin's first concert, had found he loved Taehyung's personality as well. The idol was like an alien to him, inexpiable, indescribable was the way he seemed to be serious and professional one moment, only to have a wide boxy grin filling his face and he'd do something weird and funny.

He'd devoted a deep chunk of his life going to their concerts when he really should've been working on his classes. He went to support Jimin obviously, but a part of him said that was his way of excusing his borderline obsession with Taehyung. The way he'd take maybe thirty photos of Jimin, and then thousands of Taehyung. The way he went to fan signs to take pictures of the duo in cute headbands from fans, but that he never went up to the table to get anything signed.

That he only waved to Jimin from the far back, never went up to see him. Jimin would always find him outside after, pouting and whining about how he was so cruel to show up and not see him for the duration of the six hours that the fan sign was. That he should grow a pair and just get his album signed by Taehyung and get over it.

Jungkook's phone buzzed again, and he was startled out of his thoughts as he tapped on the new message form Hoseok tearing his eyes away from the picture Jimin had sent him.

Hobi-Hyung:

[ _I'm bored. Come to HOTS and dance for a while._ ]

 **Kookie:**

[ **It's not my fault you're bored. Besides,**

 **what would I gain from dancing with you?]**

 _Kookie changed Hobi-Hyung's name to:_

 _Lonely Hobi_

 _Lonely Hobi:_

 _[Umm, my gratitude?_

 _Also, Yah! Have some respect you brat,]_

 _Lonely Hobi changed Kookie's name to:_

 _This Kid:_

 **This kid:**

 **[I'll pass.** ]

 _This Kid changed Lonely Hobi's name to:_

 _Whiny, Lonely Horse_

 _Whiny, Lonely Horse:_

 _[wow, what did I do in my past lives to deserve_

 _such a loving, caring dongsaeng such as yourself? ]_

 _Whiny, Lonely Horse changed This Kid's name to:_

 _He Who Has No Empathy_

 **He Who Has No Empathy:**

[ **I'm not sure. I mean I really am**

 **rather amazing, aren't I? Too bad**

 **I'm feeling a little peckish otherwise**

 **I would** **gladly come dance with you**

 **for a while.** ]

 _He Who Has No Empathy changed Whiny, Lonely Horse's name to:_

 _Horseok aka Bored MLP._

 _Horseok aka Bored MLP:_

[ _… I mean I suppose that you would not_

 _only have my undying gratitude, but also_

 _lamb skewers_.. _On me._ ]

 _Horseok aka Bored MLP changed He Who Has No Empathy's name to:_

 _Snake_

 **Snake:**

[ **I'll be over in ten.** ]

 _Snake changed Horseok aka bored MLP's name to:_

 _Depressed Horse Hyung Who's Now Buying Me Food._

 _Depressed Horse Hyung Who's N_ _ow Buying Me Food:_

 _[ You're literally the worst person I've ever met._ ]

 **Snake:**

[ **Love you too** ]

Jungkook smiled to himself the playful banter between him and Hoseok filling him with a familiar warmth as he changed into some sweats and a tee throwing his water bottle and a towel into his gym bag before heading towards the studio.

Hoseok welcomes him into the studio with a grumble, acting like he's annoyed by him already, but Jungkook knows its all an act. Hoseok is actually very happy to see him if the shining smile that graces his features after a few minutes of stretching is anything to go by.

"So, how has school been going?" Hoseok asks sounding like a nosy mother. Jungkook rolls his eyes, but he's smiling as he pushes down on his friend's back to help stretch it. "What have you been doing to get the money for your projects? Oh, and for that contest thing?" Jungkook's about to speak when Hoseok sucks in a breath, leaning down farther to test his limits in flexibility. "No, wait, don't answer that. I don't want to know about all those sketchy black market kidney surgeries you've been doing."

"You know people only have two kidneys, right?" Jungkook asks as he taps on Hoseok's shoulder to let him know he was going to be the one stretching now. He gets into a typical butterfly stretch, only to spread his legs down and out as far as possible, then he lowers his chest down to the ground. Hoseok comes around and lays his own back to Jungkook's, the added weight helping him to stretch more. "And you only need one to survive. Don't lie to me and say you haven't deeply considered selling one just for that expensive camera you've been eyeing for months now."

Jungkook says nothing, and if Hoseok didn't know any better, he'd imagine it would be because Jungkook couldn't talk with his face to the ground, muscles burning as he stretches them to their limits. But Hoseok does know better, and he knows it's because he's right and Jungkook's too prideful to admit that Hoseok's right, even over something as small as this.

"That's what I thought," Hoseok says as he leans back further, adding more of his weight on the younger, making Jungkook grunt in displeasure. They continue this for a few more moments until Hoseok decides the younger's stretched enough, and then he's hopping off the other's back and pulling him off the ground with a bright smile. "So, what do you wanna practice today?"

"Hmm... How about that new choreography you made for that new idol song?" Jungkook suggested, twisting his midsection left to right to try and loosen himself up even more. Hoseok smiled brightly and turned to start the music, leaving Jungkook to look at himself in the mirror.

His hair was messy, unkempt seeing as he hadn't brushed it in at least a couple days (He was too busy working on various things to do such a feeble, irrelevant thing such as brushing one's hair), there was a light stubble on his chin since his old razor had rusted and he couldn't afford a new one currently.

The white shirt he had on had a red ketchup stain from earlier when he'd stolen Amber's fries when they'd met up to discuss their projects. His sweatpants had been thrown on haphazardly, one leg was rolled up the other was down all the way. His tan timberland boots' shoelaces were undone and he hurriedly tied them before Hoseok could reprimand him.

Point is, he looked a mess, and if Taehyung were to see him right now as he were; barefaced, wearing dirty clothes and unshaven, he'd surely turn the other way and run for the hills, Jungkook thought lazily as the first notes of the song flowed from the speakers. He pushed all thoughts, of Taehyung or any other, out of his head and focused solely on the music, letting it overtake his body.

By the time they stopped dancing, nearly two hours had passed by and they were both exhausted. Jungkook was draped across the floor in a sweaty, panting puddle, and Hoseok was leaning up against the mirror, the heat from his back fogging the reflective material up slightly, fanning his face with his snapback. "So, when will we be eating those... Lamb... Lamb skewers?" Jungkook asks out of breath, reaching dramatically for the water bottle laying in his open gym bag, but he makes no real move to get it.

"It's all about the food for you, isn't it?" Hoseok teases as he swipes at his forehead with the towel around his neck to rid it of sweat. "I can't seem to remember why I keep you around," Hoseok says closing his eyes with a smirk on his lips.

"Because I'm the one chance you've got finding true love." Jungkook quips, rolling off his stomach and onto his back to look over at his friend. Jungkook still remembers the first time he'd met Hoseok, how the elder had nearly-okay literally- jumped on him and then proceeded to drop his pants like some pervert.

"Welcome to Hope On The Street, also known as HOTS because the owner, aka me, is just so attractive." The man behind the counter said with a wink, bright smile full of perfect, white teeth nearly blinding Jungkook. The artist bows his head slightly to a couple people as he makes his way over to the counter slowly, purple flier clutched tightly in his left hand.

He'd seen the paper tacked to a pole on his way home from the grocers, and he'd stopped to check it out. When he saw it was a dance studio offering classes of all levels, he was intrigued. He had been meaning to get back into dancing, and he did just get paid for those commissions he'd been working on the past couple months, so he thought why not. "Hope On The Street Dance Studio. We welcome people of all age and all levels of skill. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 am – 8 pm. Locally owned, guaranteed satisfaction and fun! 123 NameOfARoad, xxxx, Seoul SK. 'I'm you're Hope, You're my Hope, This Is Hope On The Street!' Come on by and meet the proud owner, Jung Hoseok!" The flier had read.

"Uuh, right. I was hoping to sign up for the intermediate's class in Hip Hop?" Jungkook said as he opened up his wallet, grabbing his debit card that, for once, had more than twenty-five dollars on it.

"Great! Just so you know, you have to sign up for the class, it's a fee of thirty dollars for two weeks. Oh! But the first class is free for first-comers," The man, Hoseok seeing as he said he owned the place, said cheerfully, typing away on his computer. "Can I have your date of birth, name, address, someone to call in case you're hurt, etc etc." Hoseok smiled up at Jungkook, who nodded dumbly.

"9/1/1997, Jeon Jungkook, 9852 ApartmentBuildingNameBcI'mTooLazyToMakeUpOne, xxxx Seoul, SK, and someone to call in case I get hurt is..." Jungkook paused, thinking. Realistically he should put Jimin's number down, but he doesn't know this Hoseok guy and he doesn't know if that would get Jimin in trouble... Maybe he should put down Amber's number? His art teacher? Hmm... Fuck it, I'll just call Jimin Jimmy or something. "xxx-xxx-xxxx, and put their name down as Jimmy. He's my older brother." Jungkook said, only half-lying. Jimmy was what he called Jimin to make him annoyed, and he was like a brother to Jungkook so...

Hoseok hummed in response, lips in a pout as he recited the information to himself as he typed it down, "September 1, 1997, Jeon Jungkook, 9852-" Hoseok gasped loudly, eyes wide as saucers as he looked up at the younger male in shock. "Did you say Jeon Jungkook? As in Jeon Jungkook?"

Jungkook furrowed his brows, that didn't even make sense! But he still nodded. "Yep, Jeon Jungkook. That's me." Hoseok let out a little squeal before literally throwing himself over the counter at the man, knocking them to the ground.

Jungkook let out a groan, his back flaring up in pain, as he squeezed his eyes shut. "What the fuck...?"

"Oh my god, I'm so glad I finally got to meet you!" Hoseok practically yelled in Jungkook's ear, tightening his hold on the man. "Ohmygod we're going to be best friends, I men we have to be, and I'll give you all the dance classes you want for free and we can watch movies together and go on road trips and um, we can do other fun things. Like boardwalks! No roller coasters, though, I hate those, but we can still go to the amusement park! And-"

"I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what's going on," Jungkook wheezed out from under the man, blinking rapidly to focus his eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry! You probably wouldn't understand, would you? Here, I'll help you up and explain," Hoseok pulled off the man who was flattened on the ground, sticking his hand up to help pull the other right after. "Okay, so I've got this bound to my soulmate, you know? Well of course you do, who doesn't? Anyway, mine mentions a Jeon Jungkook and well... here, look." Hoseok places his hands on his hips, hesitating only momentarily to say hurriedly "Please don't yell or arrest me," Then he pulled his pants, boxers and all, down to his ankles and turned around to show Jungkook his ass.

The younger immediately covered up his eyes, mortified. "What the fuck, man! I don't wanna see your ass!"

"No, look! I swear it'll all make sense!" Hoseok pleaded and he sounded desperate enough to make the other male to lower his hands and peek at the man. There, on his right ass cheek in pretty, swirling letters was 'I'm looking for a Jeon-fucking-Jungkook... He in here?' Jungkook gasped, eyes widening and he instinctively walked closer, looking at the black letters in awe.

"See? You somehow help me meet my soulmate!" Hoseok said as he peered over his shoulder at the younger with a bright smile. "I can't wait for our friendship to blossom, Jungkook-ah!"

"... Hoseok,"

"Yes?" The older replied cheerfully, eyes wide and questioning.

"Can you put your pants back on now?"

"Oh! Right..."

"Ah, that's right. Such a tiring, expensive, annoying price to pay for love you are, Kook-ah." Hoseok groans getting up and making his way over to the younger. When he puts his hand out for Jungkook to grab he adds, "Come on, you can shower at my place upstairs and then we can go get dinner. If you're not too annoying, I'll even let you watch Iron Man 3 again." Jungkook grips Hoseok's hand tightly, exhaustion seemingly gone at the idea of Lamb Skewers and Tony Stark.

Hoseok throws his arms over Jungkook's shoulder as they walk out of the dance studio, lights shut off and doors locked, and turn up into the stairs that lead up to Hoseok's flat above it. "I like to think that even if you don't somehow help me find love, that we'd still be friends." The elder says as the walk up the steps side by side. "I'm sure we would, Hyung," Jungkook says quietly as he watches the other unlock his door, the two of them shuffling inside and toeing off their shoes.

"After all, how could you ever not want to be my friend? I'm fucking amazing," He adds after a second, teasing, and Hoseok hits his shoulder with a "Yah! Language, Kook! You're still a baby!"

"We meet when I was eighteen!" Jungkook protested only to be shut up by Hoseok's finger, "Shhh, it's okay Kook-ah."

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hey! How have you all been? Good, I hope! I'm v sorry, this is**_ sooo _ **short, but I felt v bad for leaving this story on hold for so long, that I wanted to update...**_

 _ **No matter how small of an update it would be. I"ll try and update sometime this week or next week with a longer chapter.**_

 _ **(Side note: today((Feb. 11th)) was my birthday!I died my hair purple and its v damaged but I like it.)**_

 _ **I hope you all have a good week! See you soon,**_

 _ **~MC**_


	3. III

Jungkook was happily munching on his lamb skewers as he listened to Hoseok drone on about this awful customer that came into his studio earlier. To be more precise, he was happily eating his food as he half-listened to Hoseok complain and scrolled through his feed on his phone. He was wearing some clothes Hoseok had let him borrow after his shower; the graphic tee was loose and his sweats stuck to his thighs, not uncomfortably, but definitely noticeably so.

He dipped his lamb into a sauce they had at the side and then chewed a bit off the top, nodding to Hoseok to let him know he was listening. And he was listening, thank you very much.

Hoseok made a ssam, because he didn't feel like lamb skewers (why or how, Jungkook didn't know. Who can ever not feel like lamb skewers? Sociopaths, that's who), as he talked animatedly, Jungkook lifting his eyes up from his screen for a split second to see his friend's eyes wild and an angry frown as he spoke.

He opened Snapchat and clicked on the snaps from Amber about how she was bored and wanted to die because "This lit essay is gonna fuck me two ways to Sunday. And not the fun, sexy way." and "Why did I have to be an extra bitch and major in three subjects?!"

A couple snaps from Jimin exclaiming that he wished for Jungkook to eat well and to take good care of himself... Just so that he could kill a healthy, strong man if he didn't win the competition, and not a weak, starving one.

Jungkook felt his lips quirk up a little as he sent back a quick 'you're not my dad' meme in the chat section of snapchat.

then he quickly checked the VMIN fancam blogs, admiring both Jimin and Taehyung and wishing he'd been able to go to their concerts again this year, but sadly it seemed that class and his "job" wouldn't allow it. Maybe he should do more than just commissions. I wonder if Starbucks is hiring. Or maybe McDonald's?

Jungkook let out a little sigh, no, he did not whimper, because who in their right mind put Taehyung in a silk shirt and pants so tight he could see the outline of-

No, no, no. I am not going down that path. Not with Hoseok-Hyung right in front of you!

Oh look, _Jimin's_ there too. Huh, who would've guessed?

Jungkook let out a little snort as he saw that Jimin's hair was, and for lack of better word(s), flowing voluminously in the air... Like a fucking Pantene commercial. He also noticed that his best friend was looking a little thinner than he had when they'd met up just mere weeks ago. Gnawing on his lip he sent a quick,

 **[Yo! Blue or purple. Don't ask. Just answer.**

 **P.s saw a fancam from your recent concert and**

 **you looked really good! Treat yo self to some**

 **meat and cake or smth. ]**

He admired Taehyung a little longer as he tried to lay his worries to rest. Jimin would be fine. He'd eat and be okay. He always does... Just, trust him, Jungkook. He'll be okay-

He just closed the app he'd been looking at the blogs on and taken his last bite of food when Hoseok let out a loud laugh, clapping his hands excitedly. "-and that's how I ended up buying all of the dumplings and I got myself a date!"

Jungkook had a moment of numbness as he stared wide-eyed at his friend, cheeks stuffed with food and fingers grasping the chopstick with a vice-like grip. Wait, he was talking about a customer that was rude; when did they get to dumplings and dates?!

He swallowed quickly as he let out a forced laugh. "Really?! That's wild, man," he said hoping he sounded like a friend who had been paying attention and not a friend who was scrolling through fancam blogs and only half-listening. Hoseok seemed to deflate a little, and he sent a pout over to the younger. Crossing his arms he accused "You weren't listening where you?"

"No! Hyung, I really was listening I was just eating-" Jungkook pulled at the collar of his shirt, suddenly feeling very hot. Hoseok eyed the movement and rolled his eyes with a huff. He turned away from Jungkook to look out the window and the younger's eyes widened impossibly bigger.

Jungkook could feel sweat begin to run down his back. Fuck he'd done it now. When Hoseok's mad, he's mad and it's fucking terrifying.

Sayonara, sweet lambs skewers.

Adios, Jimin, and Amber.

Shalom, Taehyung, whom he never managed to meet on his own.

See you in hell, Mr. Fluffy, the neighbor's god-awful cat. Truth be told, I'm surprised you even died. Thought you'd live forever just out of spite.

Goodbye, cruel world. It was shitty knowing you, but it's okay... We made it work, didn't we-

Just then Jimin saved him by sending him a reply to the text. Jungkook picked up his phone, the iron man case on it worn down, and quickly thanked his best friend for the distraction.

 _Jiminie_

[Aww, Kook-ah is that concern I'm sensing?

Is this you showing emotions? You? The

Angsty emo boy? I'm shocked.

(and def. Purple. It's one of my favorite colors)]

 **Jungkook**

 **[Ha,ha. Fuck you too,]**

 _Jiminie_

 _[Yah! I was honestly shook]_

 _ **Jungkook's typing...**_

 **Jungkook**

 **[Hyung. Sorry, pressed**

 **send before I could**

 **finish my message.]**

 _Jiminie_

 _[SAYING HYUNG AFTER_

 _YOU SAY THAT DOES_

 _NOT MAKE IT OKAY_

 _YOU LITTLE SHIT]_

 _Jungkook's changed Jimine's name to:_

 _Jiminie-Hyung._

 **Jungkook**

 **[….]**

 _Jiminie-Hyung_

 _[YAH! THAT DOESN'T_

 _MAKE IT BETTER EITHER!_  
 _YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST_

 _DISRESPECT ME LIKE THAT_

 _AND GET AWAY WITH IT_

 _YOU'RE VERY WRONG._

 _I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU_

 _DON'T ]_

 _Jungkook's changed Jimine-Hyung's name to:_

 _Jiminie-Hyung_

(A/N: please note that he added a heart after Jiminie-hyung, but FF doesn't like hearts smh so I couldn't add it here on this platform)

 _Jiminie-Hyung_

 _[…. Fucking fine._

 _But I'm still mad you._

 _But I guess I forgive you._

 _This time...]_

 **Jungkook**

 **[So I was thinking we could**

 **hang out again sometime soon**

 **because I guess I kinda miss**

 **seeing your ugly face around.]**

 _Jimine-Hyung_

 _[Omg it's happening again!_

 _You're showing emotions!_  
 _They're poorly hidden_

 _underneath 3rd grade insults_

 _but they're emotions still!_

 _There really must be a God. ]_

 **Jungkook**

 **[Jimin.]**

 _Jiminie-Hyung_

 _[Hallelujah.]_

 **Jungkook**

 **[Jimin.]**

 _Jimine-Hyung_

 _[Praise Jesus!]_

 **Jungkook**

 **[Jimin.]**

 _Jiminie-Hyung_

 _[The lord had answered_

 _my prayers! My little_

 _Jungkookie is finally admitting_

 _that he loves me!]_

 _Jungkook's typing..._

 **Jungkook**

 **[Are you done yet]**

 _Jiminie-Hyung_

 _[Done with what?_

 _Thanking the gods for_

 _finally letting Kookie_

 _get the courage to_

 _admit he loves me_

 _and cares for me_

 _and that he'd protect me_

 _from anything and_

 _that he'll support me_

 _no matter what?_

.

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _Nope.]_

 _Jungkook's typing..._

 _Jiminie-_ hyung _:_

 _[Omg what sweet thing are_

 _you gonna confess now?!_

 _I can't wait to hear it,_

 _Kookie~]_

 **Jungkook**

 **[ i- ]**

 _Jiminie-Hyung 's typing..._

 _Jungkook's changed Jiminie-Hyung 's name to:_

 _Park Jimin._

 _Park Jimin_

 _[That's okay, you go_

 _ahead and do_ whtvr

 _you need to accept_

 _the fact that you have_

 _real, true human emotions_

 _and that you've been exposed.]_

 _Jungkook's changed Park Jimin's name to:_

 _Don't respond._

 _Don't Respond:_

 _[OH MY GOD_  
NO _I TAKE IT BACK_

 _PLEASE CHANGE MY NAME_  
 _DON'T IGNORE ME I NEED_ YOOU

 _JEON JUNGKOOKSFAMGHE]_

 **Jungkook**

 **[Are you sorry?]**

 _Don't Respond to_

 _[SO SO SORRY YOU'RE AN_

 _EMOTIONLESS ROBOT]_

 _Jungkook's changed Don't Respond To's name to:_

 _Jimin_

 _Jimin_

 _[I'll take what I can get._

 _Thanks, kookie.]_

 **Jungkook**

 **[MMMmHmm.]**

 _Jimin_

 _[You know you never_

 _denied anything I said_

 _abt u loving me_

 _and supporting me_

 _and like being the_

 _best bro_ i've _ever known *eye emoji x5* ]_

 **Jungkook**

 _ **[I mean...**_ ** **(´ ͡°༎ ͜ʖ ͡°༎ `)**** _ **]**_

 _Jimin_

 _[OMFG_

 _YOU ADMIT IT_  
 _YOU LOVE MEEEE_  
 _OH KOOKIE ITS OK_

 _I LOVE YOU TOO_  
 _LIKE SO MUCH THIS IS GREAT_  
 _LETS GET COUPLES RINGS_  
 _TO SYMBOLIZE OUR BROMANCE_  
 _FOR EACH OTHER_

 _AND]_

 _Jungkook's blocked Jimin._

 _Jimin_

 _[Well shit._

 _Not again...]_

 _ **Message not sent! Jungkook needs to add you!**_

Jimin

[It's okay I'll still get the rings.

See you when you unblock me ]

 _ **Message not sent! Jungkook needs to add you!**_

Jungkook smiled down at his phone before glancing back up at Hoseok. The man was watching him carefully, pout still in place and arms still crossed.

"I'm sorry Hyung, I had meant to listen, honest. It's just I've been distracted lately and my friend keeps messaging me about that one competition and I'm so stressed because I don't think I have enough money for that competition and-"

Hoseok held up his hand to stop Jungkook and gently shoved one of his own lamb skewers into Jungkook's mouth. "Shh, it's okay. I'm not mad anymore, anyway... I understand about you being stressed. You're in college. It's a given." Jungkook blinked once, twice before slowly chewing the grilled meat in his mouth. "Now about this friend, it's not Amber is it?" the younger man shook his head, still chewing.

"Is it the one you always go out on lunch dates with and like do secret stuff with and never let me see any pictures of him or hear him talk or meet him? You know, the imaginary one?" Jungkook lets out a grunt and punches Hoseok's arm with a glare. "Okay, okay. He's real... Maybe. I mean, if he's so real why can't I meet him? I've met all your other friends!" Hoseok says with a little smile, rubbing his forearm where Jungkook's fist had been.

Jungkook swallowed the meat, taking a polite sip of water before answering with a playful roll of his eyes. "Because, Hyung," he says and Hoseok gives him a look like "Really? I mean, seriously?". His mouth was open slightly and his left eyebrow raised slightly. His eyes, however, were down turned into an unimpressed glare.

"What?"

"That's not an answer, Jungkook!"

"Yes, it is!"

"No, it really isn't!"

"Oh come on why do you care so much?!" Jungkook said arms flailing up above his head as he slid down on the booth seat.

"Ugh, fine, can I at least know their name?"

"Fine, their name is Jimin. The end."

"Jimin? Like that idol, Jimin? Like that girl from the idol show? After club school or whatever?" Hoseok asks and Jungkook mumbles an "After School Club," To which Hoseok's eyes widen and he nods excitedly. "Yes! I love her! She's so sassy and cute and-" "Not my friend," "not your friend and-aw damnit. I really wanna meet her." Hoseok pouts and Jungkook rolls his eyes, picking up his chopsticks and stealing one of Hoseok pre-made ssams. He stuffs it all in his mouth with a sarcastic smile when Hoseok makes a noise of disagreement.

"Sorry to disappoint, but my friend's a dude."

Hoseok nods, thinking. He swatts Jungkook's hand away from his food without looking up, and now Jungkook's the one pouting. "Hmm... A male Jimin... Jimin, Jimin, Jimin, Oh! Jimin! Like Jimin as in the one with your creepy crush, Taehyung, Jimin?" Hoseok's eyes are alight with excitement and Jungkook suddenly wonders if it's the spicy sauce he had with his lamb earlier that's making him sweat so suddenly. (Spoiler: it's not)

"Ahaha, no, of course not! Do you really think that if I knew the Park Jimin I'd be lazying around with you? And!" Jungkook rushes on when his friend opens his mouth to interrupt, "And if I did don't you think I would have skipped this whole competition thing and just have met Taehyung ages ago?"

Hoseok shuts his mouth at this, looking deflated as he picks at some meat in his ssam with his chopsticks mopingly. "I guess that makes sense. But still, knowing a dude named Jimin? What a coincidence..."

"Yes, it's a coincidence and one my friend never lets me forget, either."

"Hmm..."

"Also, my crush isn't creepy! And it's not a crush!" Jungkook said crossing his arms and glaring over at the elder who shrugged and threw a disbelieving look towards him.

"Right, sorry," he starts and Jungkook nods opening his mouth to say that it was okay, it was a common mistake, but then Hoseok continued with, "I meant _unsettling infatuation_."

Jungkook threw a ssam leaf at his face.

* * *

Taehyung let out a heavy sigh, falling into the cushions of his and Jimin's shared couch. His head was pounding and his feet ached. They'd done a show at Inkigayo the night before, and just today they'd woken up before the sun to go and film an episode of Weekly Idol! And they'd had another show at Music Core mere hours after.

The room was quiet, eerily so, Jimin having already showered and fallen into his bed upstairs.

It was currently three-thirty am and he wanted nothing more than to shower and sleep. But, he couldn't. As much as he wished he could, he can't seem to fall asleep.

On the one hand, it could be blamed on the thunderstorm currently attacking their house, the windows being pelted with thick, aggressive raindrops. Loud cracks of thunder whipping the air in the distance, undoubtedly heading their way, and fast.

But on the other hand, it was because he couldn't seem to shut his brain down. His mind kept running around and round in circles; images of bold, thick lines appearing on his skin without his doing. Of butterfly wings and skulls he had no hand in making. Thoughts of a bond, of a soulmate.

Taehyung ran a hand through his dyed hair and letting it slide down his face. He tried to calm down with a strong intake of breath, eyes squeezed shut tight. All this soulmate gibberish and storms and show tapings were making him so, so, so very stressed. He wouldn't be surprised if he died in his forties from stress-induced heart failure, despite being otherwise perfectly healthy.

When Taehyung had turned eighteen and didn't have a bond mark, much to his, his family's, and friend's confusion. Everyone thought his soulmate had already died, it wasn't uncommon, after all. But Taehyung thought differently, felt differently; He thought that maybe he just couldn't see his bond, or maybe he had to do something special for it to show.

He tried everything from going vegetarian for a few months in case his mate was an avid animal rights person (worst few months of his life, might he add) all the way to snorkeling in red Kool-Aid. He'd tried black lights, essential oils, pricking his finger in case he had a blood bond (thank god he didn't, those creep him out. But still, he was hoping that maybe he did, just a teeny tiny bit).

After a year and a half of searching, Taehyung lost hope. He knew that even if his soulmate wasn't eighteen that Taehyung would still see his bond. He began to assume like others did, that his soulmate was truly gone. He'd learned to live it. Found that you don't need a soulmate to find love, that you can fall in love with others like yourself.

He choose not to... it almost felt like he was cheating on his late soulmate. Even though he'll never meet his, he still wants to honor and be loyal to his lost soulmate. It's different, yeah, but it was what he wanted. He also learned that you don't truly need anyone to love you, to be happy or content. Now, Taehyung himself isn't overly happy, he isn't terribly depressed, either, but he can find contentment in small things. He can love himself when no one else will, at least to an extent, as well.

He thought that if all else failed and he's in his thirties, he'd move in with a bunch of dogs and adopt lots of babies or something. But, suddenly, after five years of radio-silence on his soulmate's end, he finds his bond. It was such a big shock he'd nearly fainted in the shower after he realized, honest and truly understood that there was someone, somewhere in the world that was made for him. Someone who'd love and support him unconditionally, flaws and all.

He just hopes that his soulmates a man. See, Taehyung likes to think that if he had a girl as a soulmate, he'd be able to suddenly "wake up" and be like "oh! I like vaginas and titties now. What's that thing hanging between my legs? A dick? Huh, I have no sexual attraction to said dick. I just wanna stick it into my soulmate and make lots of children... Yippee!"

Buuuut

He's just so incredibly, undeniably, wholeheartedly gay that if his soulmate was a chick, they'd probably end up being like him and Jimin are. Superclose best friends. But he doesn't want another Jimin. He loves the man, yes, but he only really needs one.

What he wants is someone to wake up to, to cuddle under blankets on the couch. To watch scary movies with and to hold him when everything gets to be too much. To soothe his aches and calm his worries. To support him, not Taehyung the idol, not Taehyung, Jimin's partner, just, him. Kim Taehyung, man, born in Daegu, 22, Lover of dogs and children. Avid video game player and Netflix binge-watcher.

He wants someone to kiss him goodnight and good morning (even if he has morning breath) an all the time in between. Someone he can cherish and protect, someone to cherish and protect him. Someone he can call his and only his.

He wants a soulmate, and now that he's found he still has one, he doesn't know what to do.

Taehyung groans, running a hand through his hair and sliding down onto the leather couch until eventually slipping onto the ground.

With his face planted firmly in the carpeted floors, Taehyung lets out a silent scream. Silent, because he doesn't want to alert Jimin who's sleeping soundly on the second floor. Once he lets out all the air in his lungs, he lets his body go limp and his mind blank.

Should he write something back to his soulmate, to let him know that he's not alone? Or should he just let this go, forget he ever saw the bond?

Taehyung wiggles his nose, the fibers of the carpet tickling it.

His soulmate could have been waiting just as long as he did, could have thought Taehyung was gone and had found someone else. His soulmate could be in his forties (please no) and married with children (Please don't be, dear lord), for all he knew! He wouldn't want to be a homewrecker, even if his soulmate was his soulmate...

If, in this hypothetical situation Taehyung's anxiety-ridden mind conjured up for him, his soulmate had moved on from their "dead" mate (read: Taehyung) and has found a life filled with love and happiness; Taehyung wouldn't want to just waltz right in and ruin it all just because of a couple drawings on his arm.  
That would be rude and it wouldn't be his right, after being silent for years as well. But, to be fair, that's partly not his fault! His agency doesn't allow you to draw on yourself, so he never did! Sure, he'd get some ink on his fingers or something when signing albums but that's on his soulmate for not noticing the big, black ink stain on his fingers!

Taehyung lets out a weak sneeze as he rolls over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling blankly. A clock on the wall behind him tick-toks almost obnoxiously in the silence.

Tik, tok, tick, tok, tik-

But, on the other hand, it is his soulmate and shouldn't he deserve a chance at happiness too?

Tik, tok, tik, tok, tick, tok,

Taehyung sighs at himself mentally, rolling his eyes before shutting them. He had meant to be done thinking about all this, but of course, his brain had to be a little shit and drag it all back up. Taehyung shouldn't be thinking such selfish thoughts. His soulmate's probably happy with someone else and he should just be happy for them.

Their happiness is his happiness...

tik, tok, tik, tok

them being happy makes me happy-

tik, tok, tik, tok, tik

Would we be happy?

Ugh, focus, Taehyung!

Tik, tok, tik tok ti

With a subconscious bite to his bottom lip, Taehyung lets all the selfish thoughts of him and his soulmate fill up his mind once again.

Look! There they are, curled up together in bed on a chilly Sunday morning, hot chocolates in hands and the TV playing some random show neither of them are paying attention to. They're too busy looking into each other's eyes to-

Damnit, brain! Leave me and my poor heart alone!

Taehyung flails his limbs around the room before finally settling on watching the blinking blue light of his gaming console; letting it calm him down as he forced his mind to go blank and think of nothing but the blue light.

He then thought of things associated with only blue.

Blue...

rain

ocean

skies

that one suit I saw in a store

Yoongi's hair

Those flowers they'd had in their latest concept photos

I wonder if my soulmate has blue eyes-

"God fucking dammit!" Taehyung yelled, instantly shutting his mouth and looking up at the ceiling with wide eyes. Shit, he had better not have woken Jimin up. He's a bitch if he doesn't get his sleep, Taehyung's come to find out in their years living together.

When nothing happens, Taehyung flops back on the floor and closed his eyes. This whole soulmate thing is going to stress him out... Oh god, what if he begins to break out because of it?!

With a loud grumble, Taehyung got up from the floor and began his descent up the stairs in the room next to him. He pauses at Jimin's floor, feet inches away from the next flight that would lead up to his floor and his room.

He turned his head to look out the large windows lining the wall to his left. There were bright flashes of light in the distance; far enough that you can't really hear the loud cries of the thunder, but close enough that you can see it clearly. The lightning. Raindrops slid down the windows only to have newer, bigger drops of water replace them and obscure the image of the city lights. And, in turn, the lightning itself.

The sound of the rain against the windows makes his body tense uncomfortably and he forces himself to relax. In an ironic twist, Taehyung loves the rain. Loves the way it smells after and how it washes away the dirt from the world of the day previous, but he hates the thunder and dangers that these types of storms bring.

"I should really try to sleep..." Taehyung muttered as he looked away and back at the glass stairs leading to his floor, to his bed. He had one foot on the first step when a loud crash of thunder makes him jolt. "Fuck, I'm a grown man! I'm Twenty-two! I shouldn't be this affected by thunderstorms!" He whispered angrily, glaring at his warped reflection on the step.

Another bang and he almost slipped off the glossy step. Taehyung ran a hand through his gray locks and let out a deep sigh, looking longingly at the white door that leads to his best friend's bed. "I really should try to sleep by myself this time..." He muses but he already knows this is a lost argument with himself. After a moments hesitation, Taehyung stepped away from the stairs and crept into Jimin's room.

He shut the door silently and padded over to where Jimin's closet stood. He slipped inside, dropping the clothes he'd worn to the show earlier and stealing one of Jimin's oversized sleep shirts. He pulled on a pair of sweatpants as well, albeit there were a little short on him then they were on Jimin, and then tiptoed over to where Jimin's bed lay.

The man inhabiting it was snoring quietly, just little quiet puffs of condensation that swirled in the air. He had one leg hanging off the edge of his bed and uncovered, one arm up above his head and the other was clutching his blanket closely to his chest. Taehyung felt a smile grace his features as he whispered an "Aish, this boy," quietly and made his way around the bed.

Licking his lips he slid into the bed on the side opposite his friend, settling down until the covers reached his nose and his eyes peeked out from his fringe. A louder bang this time, the lightning was closer, and with a jump, Taehyung swore he could feel the vibrations of it in his toes.

Jimin stirred beside him at the movement, rolling on to his side and staring blearily at the man beside him. He blinked a few times before opening his mouth and rasping out a drowsy"Mmmf, Taehyung? Is that you?"

Taehyung made a noise of confirmation only to let out a high squeak when another flash of lightning filled the room with light from Jimin's window. The loud bang of thunder followed mere seconds later and sounding much like that of a whip hitting its target forcefully.

Jimin cooed, scooting closer to his friend, not needing any more of an explanation, and Taehyung immediately curled into the shorter man's chest. "I hate feeling this weak. I hate being this weak just because of a little bad weather," he whispered softly into the silence, hands clutching the fabric of Jimin's shirt tightly. A hand comes up and begins to stroke his hair soothingly, albeit a bit sluggishly. Jimin let out a hum of understanding as he continued to pet his friend's head.

"You're not weak, you're one of the strongest people I know.. Except maybe Kookie. He's strong physically and emotionally. He's been through so-" A yawn and before Taehyung could ask who this cookie was and if Jimin was even really awake yet, the man continued. "Anyway, the point is you're strong and it's okay to be scared sometimes. We all have our own fears, our own weaknesses. Yours is thunderstorms and mine's mirrors and the darkness..." Taehyung nodded, snuggling closer to his friend, his eyes feeling droopy with lack of sleep. "And, you're always welcome here, you know I love Tae cuddles," He let out a loud yawn, his chin grazing Taehyung's head gently, "Never be afraid to come cuddle with-with muh-me," Jimin's breathing was leveling out again and Taehyung knew he was falling back asleep. "Okay... Hey Minnie?"

Jimin forced himself to wake up enough to hear this, humming lowly as he brought his hand back up to the crown of Taehyung's head slowly. It was an attempt to continue to stroke Taehyung's hair, and in turn, soothe him still, but its effect was kinda lost when Jimin almost fell asleep whilst doing it, jolting awake seconds later only to continue his ministrations. "I love you,"

"I love you too, TaeTae..." He let out another loud yawn and snuggled his friend closer, their legs tangling together underneath the duvet and sheets, "Always,"

 **A/N:**

 **I'd just like to thank you all for being so understanding and patient during the wait! It meant a lot to me!**

 **But, I'd also like to apologize for a few things:**

 **One, this chapter's so short holy Jesus literally who am I.**

 **Two, it's been almost over a month since I last updated, omg.**

 **And three, this chapter is such a filler chapter and IM SORRY BUT I WAS SO LAZY FOR SOME REASON THIS WEEK**

 **I COULDN'T WRITE HARDLY AT ALL AND AAAAHHHHH**

 **Hopefully, the next chapter will be better and less filler-y.**

 **Thanks again, and remember kudos and comments keep us authors alive!**

 **~MC**


	4. IV

Warning: Mentions of vomiting and wounds, although neither are too detailed.

Enjoy the poorly edited and written chapter (s) made by yours truly on a plane back to her boarding academy :)

(that was a sarcastic smiley face... Just because it might be unclear lmao)

ALSO HOLY SHIT I KNOW I'M LATE TO THE PARTY, BUT LY: TEAR IS SO GOOD WTF  
(Even though I'm mad billboard and bbmas for the bad camera work during their fake love performance but girl don't get me started on that or i'll probably snap)

What's your favorite track? Mine's hands down Airplane Pt. 2, with The Truth Untold and Anpanman very close behind. (But bitch all the songs are so good don't get me wrong. My weave is snatched and I ain't never seeing her again)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

 _"I feel there is nothing truly more artistic than to love people"_

 _\- Vincent Van Gogh_

Taehyung blearily opened his eyes, looking, albeit a little unfocused, at the wall across the room. The sun had clearly risen, sunlight filtering in through the windows behind him. The rain appeared to have stopped, only the sound of water lightly dripping down from where it had collected before. Blinking, Taehyung felt around the gray sheets in search of another body but found none. Jimin must already be up... He thinks as he yawns and rubs his eyes to try to clear the sleep from them. The ceiling fan casts shadows on the walls and the more Taehyung stared at them, the dizzier he felt. It was like he was suddenly moving around, like on a boat, and his stomach was churning with each imaginative sway.

It was then that Taehyung realized two things; one, he had a migraine. A splitting, pounding migraine that felt like his head was being squeezed in a vice-like grip. It must've started out as a cluster headache, the kind that he only gets when preparing for a comeback. When he's either seriously stressed or seriously emotionally unstable... And two, because of this migraine he was most definitely going to throw up. And soon.

As if on cue, his mouth began to salivate like waterfalls and he swallowed thickly, but it wouldn't stop. His throat seized up, the acids building it's way up inside him and burning his tongue. He tore his eyes away from the fan's shadows and threw the blankets off him. He stumbled out of bed and raced towards the bathroom, nearly throwing the door off its hinges in the process. He fell on his knees in front of the toilet and, with white-hot pain behind his eyes and around his skull, he heaved the contents of his stomach. With each spew, his head would throb long and painful as he squeezed his eyes closed and tried not to breathe in.

The upside of being on a strict diet meant that Taehyung didn't really have too much to lose the second time around... The downside is that even though his stomach's already empty, his muscles will still constrict and he'll dry heave for hours, abs crying out in pain in the few seconds he'd get to rest. Luckily it only lasted a little while longer and the man could relax, arm cradling his head as he laid it on the seat.

He breathed in heavily through his mouth, the air tasting sour and acidic still. His head continued to pound insistently, making him wish he'd either pass out or just die already; since it felt like he was currently dying already anyways.

He's not sure how long he laid there, panting and swallowing down the small waves of nausea before he had the strength (and courage) to stand up. His legs felt shaky like Jell-O and threatened to fall beneath him as he held onto the countertop for support. Opting not to look in the mirror, Taehyung splashed cool water on his face before cupping his hand to gather some to drink. Once he had enough water in his hand he raised it to his parched lips and first gargled it to try and get the taste of bile out; then he swallowed some, wincing at the slight burn as his throat protested angrily at the intrusion after only just being abused.

Still not looking at his reflection, he already knew he looked a mess, he made his way out of the bathroom and back into Jimin's bedroom. He looked past the bed with fuzzy blankets, past the windows, past the wall practically covered in Polaroids that he somehow missed when he crawled in the night before, past the- Hold on...

Taehyung made his way over to the wall and let his eyes sweep over the photos, headache momentarily forgotten in his curiosity. On two identical wood plates were a plethora of Polaroids (Say that two times fast.. Two identical wood plates were a plethora of Polaroids.. On Two identical woom plats were a plethra of Polaiodz... Polarnoise... Polar- you get it.) and even more were hanging around from the ceiling.

There were some of him and Jimin, but most were of either solely Jimin or Jimin and some other boy he didn't know. The boy appeared in nearly every photo, dating all the way back to before Jimin ever came to Seoul, it seemed. There was even one of Jimin and this boy in high school uniform.

There were some of- what he really thought and kinda low-key hoped was this boy, only older- from a couple years ago back when Jimin and he got more than a month for summer vacation. Back when Jimin left for Busan to see his family and friends for three whole months; they even visited Thailand for two weeks, according to Jimin.

In these glimpses of Jimin's most precious moments, Taehyung's friend seemed brighter, happier, livelier.

This boy was-possibly is- Jimin's best friend. He knows him better, probably, he'll probably always come first, he clearly makes Jimin happier than Taehyung does when they're working together, and he's probably going to debut in some awesome idol group. Purely because Jimin's only ever friends with talented, amazing people (totally not a boost of confidence for himself, from himself... No, never). That or he's like insanely beautiful (like fucking Jimin. He always gets praise the most for being so pretty) and is a model.

Taehyung got just the briefest of glances at the rest of the photos; another man he didn't recognize, some of him and some of solely Jimin, etc. He got just the briefest of glances before the door to the room busted open and Jimin came marching in humming a song.

Taehyung jumped away from the photos as if burnt, feeling oddly guilty for having been caught looking at them. As if he weren't allowed to see such raw, precious memories.

Jimin freezes, eyeing his oddly suspicious acting friend and holding a white paper bag and a cup holder.

"... What'cha doing?" He asks slowly, eyes narrowed and an inquisitive look on his face. Taehyung blushes and takes an extra step away from the board. "Um... Just, ya know, standing around.."

"Mmhm, so you totally weren't snooping, looking at all my Polaroids just now," Jimin says walking over to the small coffee table in the middle of the room, placing the drinks and bag down.

"Okay, so I kind of was doing just that... But to be fair they just looked so nice and distracting!" Taehyung admitted, scooting closer to where his friend was to peer inside the bag, only for Jimin to swipe it away before he could. "Distracting from what, might I ask?" Jimin inquires, raising a perfect eyebrow at the man in front of him.

"..."

"Tae..."

"..." Taehyung stubbornly looks away, lips pursed into a duck face as he looks around. "Taehyung," Jimin says in his warning voice, urging the other to look at him.

"Fine. I had-have- an awful migraine," Jimin gasps out a what?! But Taehyung continues with a small wince "And I may or may not have woken up just to vomit," WHAT?! "Buh-but I swear I'm better now! Your beautiful face in those beautiful pictures really did help!"

Jimin looks unconvinced but he hands the bag over, despite. "If you say so... Here, I got us bagels from the place down the street you really like, as well as coffee. You go ahead and start eating, I'll go get you some pain pills for your head."

"You're an angel, Jimin," Taehyung sighs already reaching over for the coffee with his name on it. Jimin lets out a huff of a laugh, already heading out the door.

Taehyung felt his mind wandering back to the Polaroids, of the boy in the photos. He wants to ask Jimin about him, he just doesn't know when he can.

"So you saw my Polaroids," Jimin enters again, startling Taehyung who was taking a sip. "Oh-shit, sorry, didn't mean to scare you... Anyway, you saw my pictures, right. So you must've seen my brother."

…. Brother? No, he didn't, he's met Jimin's brother briefly before, and he didn't see anyone even resembling him. "Umm... No, I didn't?" Taehyung says, gladly taking the napkin from Jimin and wiping down the spilled coffee. Jimin's got a gleam in his eye, and if Taehyung didn't know any better, he'd even say it was mischievous. "Oh, that's right! You haven't met Kookie, have you?" Taehyung shakes his head slowly, brows furrowed as he takes in the -almost- sadistic and amused look on his best friend's face.

"Oh, how could I have forgotten?! Well, my dearest friend, Kookie's my other younger brother! He's two years older than Jihyun, the brother you did meet; but he moved away from Busan with me, which is why you didn't see him when he visited last year during our tour~ He was busy in college." Jimin explained, taking out two bagels, handing Taehyung the 'Everything' one and keeping the blueberry one for himself. Jimin still has that evil gleam in his eyes, but now there's a prideful one there as well.

Taehyung's stomach gave out an appreciative grumble at the sight of crispy turkey bacon, cream cheese, tomatoes, melted cheddar cheese and topped with brewer's yeast. Jimin got it just how he likes it.

Yeah, he'd prefer actual bacon, but the place down the street only sold turkey and chicken products. It was like a new age-y hip bagel place (Literally had crystals everywhere you looked, a little section specifically just for soothing your aura, etc. It was kinda nice, though. Quiet, warm, etc). And all their products were free range, grass fed, organic, slightly overpriced... But, because of this place, he recently found that he loves this thing called brewer's yeast, which is yellow little tasty flakes that he puts on literally everything. Toast? Yes. Bagels? Yes. Popcorn? Hell yeah, man!

Jimin's, on the other hand, was more simplistic. Just blueberry bagel with cream cheese and slices of strawberries inside it.

"Huh, it's a little odd that you or your parents have never mentioned him before..." Taehyung said around a mouthful of bagel. He tries to think of a time Jimin's parents even mentioned their other son beside Jihyun or Jimin, but he draws up blanks.

"Yeah, well... Kookie likes his privacy, y'know?" Jimin said with a nonchalant shrug, but Taehyung's known his friend for long enough to tell that Jimin is being guarded. That 'Kookie' could be a sensitive topic,that Jimin may want to keep this boy as hidden and mysterious as he can for as long as he can... So, despite wanting to ask more questions, Taehyung instead stuffs his food into his open mouth and they ate in relative silence.

Huh, Kookie... Such an odd name for a Korean boy. Maybe it's a nickname? Bwah, whatever, probably not gonna matter anyway.

Taehyung and Jimin went about eating and chatting before they had to head to the studio. Despite his earlier thoughts, the gray-haired man felt his eyes drawn occasionally to the Polaroids. To this mysterious 'Kookie' who likes his privacy. This kookie who knows his Jimin better than he does. This kookie that's both something Taehyung wants desperately but can't be; Jimin's family.

But, he'll just have to live with being bros with Jimin for now. That's more than enough, right? Siblings are so overrated (that's a lie, Taehyung loves his younger siblings with a fierce passion).

"Jungkook!" The boy startles from where he was standing in line for his coffee, turning around to see Amber rushing over towards him and passing everyone in line to reach him. "Sorry, am I late?" She asks as she braces herself on her knees, breathless.

"Ah, no, I only just got here myself actually," Jungkook says ignoring the angry glares of the people behind them in line. "Good," Amber wheezes as they walk up to the counter.

"Ah! Kook-ah! And... No, wait, don't tell me," Seokjin leans on the counter, peering up at Amber as he thought long and hard. She shares a side-long glance to her classmate, who just shrugged. "Uhhhhhh-lexa? Alexa?"

"Nope," Amber replies with a wide smile, already pulling her wallet out of her purse, "Amber."

Seokjin lets out a curse (if you count "darn" as a curse) and snapped his fingers, straightening up behind the counter. "I'll get it one of these days, just you wait. You'll come in here, maybe even without Jungkook, and I'll practically scream your name at you!" Seokjin said before taking both their orders, well, mainly Amber's order seeing as he already knew Jungkook's by heart.

"And I threw in a slice of cake for each of you, two for the price of one... Half off." Seokjin glanced away at that as if worried someone were to tell on him for giving them both almost scandalous amounts of discounts.

"Hyung! No, that's too much, really!" Jungkook tries to plea but Seokjin was already reading off the ridiculously low amount they had to pay, ignoring him completely. Amber paid with her card, taking the cash money Jungkook handed her silently.

"Thanks, Seokjin-ssi," Amber said politely bowing as she took their food and headed for a table in the corner. "Yeah, thank you, Hyung," Jungkook said following her away, after sending a bow to the elder as well, as Seokjin waved them both off easily before turning to the next customer.

"Okay, so, since we both have been awful procrastinators, per usual, and have yet to start on our projects... I think we should both just brainstorm concepts and share with each other... Or we can, like, mass produce photos and paintings and shit and choose which ones we like the most to submit for the projects. Sell off the rest for easy cash.. What d'ya think?" Amber said as they sat, delicately cutting into her melon cake with her fork.

"Um... How about we try our hand at the concept thing first, and then if that fails, maybe and this is maybe, we'll try mass producing?" Jungkook supplied already digging in his bag for a notebook and pen. They started off with the most basic brainstorming method ever. Write anything that comes to mind.

 _Concept brainstorm:_

 _flowers_

 _cake_

 _coffee shops_

 _street lights_

 _street life_

 _people sitting at cafes_

 _everyday people_

 _everyday heroes_

 _heroine_

 _drugs_

 _drug use_

 _bananas_

 _a banana dancing around in underwear (?)_

 _dogs_

 _cats_

 _… cats and dogs_

 _sushi_

 _food_

 _treasures around the world_

 _beaches_

 _Busan_

 _um._

 _idk_

 _(help, Amber_

 _shit, you've written more than me._

 _This is just me writing down my thoughts to make it seem like I'm making good ideas too._

 _I wonder how Jimin is doing today... Oh! Jimin's an idol. I can say that.)_

 _Idols_

 _Um... Families_

 _Jimin..._

 _My mom and dad_

 _(Like Jimin's mom and dad_

 _not mine_

 _they sucked_

 _well, they were okay for a while I guess_

 _yo, I really wanna eat my cake but I'm supposed to be brainstorming)_

 _uuuuuuh Jiminie_

 _Idols with gray hair_

 _television series_

 _animals_

 _waterfalls_

 _chipmunks_

 _seeds_

 _Idols with gray hair that sing really well_

 _Lee Taemin_

 _Move_

 _Moving_

 _Moving cities_

 _Moving houses, the series_

 _Idols with gray hair that can sing and dance_

 _Tae..min. Again._

 _…_

 _Oh, whatever, just say Taehyung._

 _And um sodas_

 _grape soda (ew)_

 _Dr. Peper_

 _Diet pep-_

"And, done!" Amber said as her phone timer went off quietly, interrupting Jungkook's very useless brainstorm. "Okay, now, lets read off our ideas and see what we've got!"

An hour later the two of them have gotten nowhere and their ideas are less than great. Amber's already messy hair was now falling out of her bun, her round glasses crooked; the palm of her hand pushing them up as she laid on it. She was zoning off into space as she lazily stirred her drink's straw. "I don't understand," Jungkook whined rather childishly from his seat across the girl. "Why would we both get artist's block right when we desperately need an artistic-ey flood?!"

Jungkook pouted, pulling his straw out and pushing it back in, past all the ice inside as he too looked out the large window beside them. The leaves were falling outside still. Falling down into piles and scattering into the streets; all at the mercy of the wind. They swirl in bright hues of oranges, reds, yellows and even the dullest of browns. They raced one another to reach someplace new, different, only slowing down when the wind does. There were skeletons that smiled and witches that 'flew', suspended in the air by strings in the shop windows. Parents let their children drag them into costume shops so they could dress like their favorite characters and pumpkin patches to find the best one to carve. Halloween was looming just around the corner and fellow classmates of Jungkook's never let him forget it, either.

See, this Halloween, like so many others, there is going to be a huge party hosted by some dude named Jackson. Apparently, this dude is loaded, wild, has the best booze and his parties are always a thing to remember. And this will be his last party because he's allegedly going to hop on that K-Pop train and become an idol or something. So this party is supposed to be even more wild and crazy and 'amazingly amazing' so Jungkook just has to go!

Or so Amber and his other friends (Well, he wouldn't go as far as calling them friends. Just mutual classmates that like to talk to him before and after classes. Sometimes they join him and Amber for lunch.) have insisted for the past week and a half.

Jungkook normally likes to party, likes to let loose and forget that you've got a real life with real responsibilities for a little while. But this time he's not too sure. Maybe he should just stay inside and work on his assignments. Maybe by the end of that week, he'll be able to think of ideas for their projects and he'll have to finish those. Or maybe he'll just stay inside watching iron man and (totally, 100% not creepily) admiring some pictures of Taehyung...

"I know, it sucks but we have to think of something before the due date!" Amber replies, startling Jungkook out of his thoughts. He had completely forgotten he was sitting with his friend. "I mean we have to if we want to graduate, right? So we have to think of something so amazing that they can't give us anything less than an A!"

"... Right, but thinking of grade-A projects is easier said than done." Jungkook thinks out loud, grabbing for his pen to scribble away some more of the ideas they had. Poodles with umbrellas? I mean, really?

"You're right." Amber gets up, grabbing their plates and empty drinks. "I'll go get us another coffee. This is going to be a long day."

"Yes... Yes... Of course, Mom. Of course, I'm looking after Jimin. Yes..." Jungkook's pacing the floors of his living room, both hands scribbling furiously onto the sketchbook in his hands. His left shoulder raised up to help support the phone squished into his face. He took a deep sigh, re-adjusting the phone before it could slip away from him. "Yes, I'm making sure he's eating well. Yes, I'm eating well too..."

Jungkook hummed as his mother said something about needing to eat more than box ramyeon. He sketched out a slope of a nose as he finally sat down on a chair, balancing his heavily abused sketchbook on one knee. "Yeah, I'll come to visit soon, I promise... Actually, it's only a couple more months until Mother's birthday. Yeah, I'll come down then and stay for at least a couple days, how about that, Mom?"

Jungkook dreaded thinking about going to visit his mother-if he can even call her that anymore- anytime soon. But if it meant that he could see his and Jimin's parents, then he'll gladly go.

"Of course. No, there isn't anyone special in my life at the moment... Mmf... Yeah... Of course, I'd let you know if there was... No, I do not plan on being alone forever, thank you."

Jungkook glanced at the calendar hanging on the wall beside the fridge, eyes scanning the post-its and hurried notes scattered across it. There was one date on the calendar that was circled many times in red pen, but Jungkook couldn't make out what day it was. Getting up from his spot on the couch, feet padding softly on his wood floors, he made his way over to take a closer look.

Yearly doctor's check-up sometime this month, dental cleaning Tuesday, need to get groceries... Oh! The due date for the VMin contest entrees was only a week away and Jungkook's done absolutely nothing! Shit, he should hurry and do that... Maybe even start tonight.

"Listen, mom," Jungkook starts, tearing his eyes away from the red ink and interrupting his mother, who had been talking about how their neighbors had been going outside late at night, and acting suspicious (She left out the part that their neighbors were almost eighty years old) "Mom, I need to go... Um, something's come up, sorry... Love you too, uh huh, bye," Jungkook hung up distractedly as he grabbed a soda from the fridge. Flipping the lights off in the kitchen and living room, he made his way over to his bedroom. The door shut loudly behind him but he didn't pay it any mind as he shuffled over to his desk in the corner. There was art supplies scattered about it and discarded paintings, sketches and watercolor pieces were all laying around on the floor. Jungkook quickly moved some things aside so he had room to work.

Jungkook pulled up Netflix on his Tv next to him and started a new episode of The Office. He could only understand a little of it, didn't really get all the jokes, but he liked to think that it was helping him learn English anyway.

Then he scrolled through some of the photos he's taken and choose two of both Jimin and Taehyung to replicate.

"OH GOD NO! NO GOD, NO! PLEASE NO! NO!" Michael yelled in the background as Jungkook began to sketch out Jimin with a Prisma Color Erase pencil in the shade rose. He might erase it later, but sometimes Jungkook prefers to leave the sketch marks. Likes to see them just barely visible underneath the watercolors.

He got to work that night with the intention to win this competition. If not for Jimin (and in turn his life since Jimin likes to threaten it if he doesn't win) than for himself. He's been dreaming of a chance to meet Taehyung without shortcuts and cheating. Without any help from others and now he has that opportunity! He can't let this slip away, no matter what.

Jimin was making his way to BigHit Studios to practice dancing and get a workout. Taehyung had opted to stay home and rest, still feeling a bit off from his migraine earlier that day.

Jimin had just unlocked the door with his key, eyes looking down at a tweet from a comedian he liked, when he heard a distant rumbling sound. Looking up, he tried to find the source of the sound but all he saw was darkness. The studio should have been empty, so there was no need for the lights to be on. The cleaning people don't come today, and bighit knows that if Jimin, Taehyung or anyone else with a key wanted to get inside, they wouldn't need the lights on in the lobby anyways. It was then that Jimin realized that was was a faint light coming from one of the hallways, which meant that someone or something was, indeed, here with Jimin.

Straining his ear Jimin could make out little bits and pieces of a heated whispered conversation that left him both confused and intrigued.

 _"Can't believe you... And who even keeps... You shouldn't have tried... You weigh a fuckin' ton..."_

Walking slowly and cautiously, little fingers gripping his pepper spray, Jimin made his way towards the light and voices.

"Ah! Hyungs!" Jimin yelped, dropping his weapon of choice and grabbing the attention of Namjoon and Yoongi. Yoongi, who was currently helping the former limp towards where Jimin just came from, had his mouth open in slight shock. "What happened?!" The youngest felt his eyes widen as he looked over Namjoon, worried. His foot was wrapped up with what looked like one of Taehyung's bandannas he leaves around, a big scarlet mark staining the black and white paisley design.

"This doofus here tripped and broke a glass end table. Fuckin' stepped all over the pieces and, get this, he tried to pick the pieces up! Right after he sliced his foot wide open!" Yoongi says sounding annoyed, but mainly worried. He truly did care for his friend and co-worker.

"I already told you!" Namjoon began sounding exhausted but still managing to be exasperated. "I didn't feel the cut until after the little ones on my hands began to bleed! Then I got up to clean them off and fell back down because, ow goddammit, standing up with a giant ass cut on your foot kinda does hurt!"

"Well, it wouldn't have hurt as much if you hadn't have tried to pick up the glass and had noticed you were already cut!"

Jimin looked back and forth between the two of them, watching them bicker and silently contemplating sneaking away.

"And what, sat there with my phone across the room and just wait for someone else to find me? And then have them pick it up?" Namjoon's brow was furrowed much like Yoongi's, their eyes bore into each other with a wild-moderately tired-fire inside them.

"Yes! Like any normal human would! You're lucky I left my phone here, otherwise, I would have never known you were hurt!"

"Why is this all my fault?! It was your t-shirt that I slipped on!"

"Don't try to pin this on me! You're the one who got his foot sliced! And how does someone manage to break unbreakable glass?! We specifically got that table because it was 'childproof glass, doesn't break easily!' or something!" Yoongi shoot back, and Namjoon stomps his foot down in a fit of rage-

Only to crumble against Yoongi's side and let out a loud cry of pain. "Shit. That was my hurt foot." He wheezes out as he looks up at the ceiling with tears in his eyes.

"Lord help us all," Yoongi sighs, shifting Namjoon's weight and motioning Jimin to help. "We need to get him to a hospital. It might be worse than it looks, you know."

Jimin nods, dropping his gym bag on the floor in their company's lobby, running to Namjoon's other side. He gingerly lifts the elder's arm up and over his shoulder as he stands up, lifting up some of Namjoon's weight as well.

The man in question lets out a grunt but says nothing as he lets the two shorter men help him out the doors and into the backseat of Yoongi's car.

They drove the short distance to the hospital with Namjoon trying, and failing, to speak and with Yoongi snappily shushing him ("I honestly didn't mean to-" Namjoon started in a weak, almost feeble voice, only for Yoongi to snap his eyes up to the rearview mirror and make eye contact with the younger. "Shut it, Joonie! I don't want to hear it. I'm angry, tired, and worried. Try to convince me when A. you have a better excuse or B. I'm in a better mood."), and Jimin awkwardly shuffling in his seat beside Yoongi; feeling as if he could slice the quiet, annoyed tension with a very, very sharp knife. Like, you'd need a katana or something to slice through the tension, it was so thick.

"Yep... You cut your foot pretty deep. We'll have to clean it up, get all the little shards out, disinfect it, et cetra before we can stitch it up... However, what's intriguing," The doctor, who was peering down at Namjoon's, thankfully slightly less bloodied (All that red was making Jimin queasy) foot intently, started. Jimin, Yoongi, and Namjoon all shared a look because, honestly, what could be so 'intriguing' about a gross, cut up foot? ("No offense, Namjoon," Jimin whispered quietly in hopes that the doctor wouldn't hear the three of them talking about him) "Are your toes here; have you experienced any other pains beyond that of your cut?"

The doctor asks, gingerly touching the toes. Namjoon let out a whine as he clenched his hands to keep from moving away, "Ah, sorry, that probably hurt, huh?" A nod from Namjoon, "Well, that's because, if I'm correct, then it seems like you've broken at least one of your toes. During the incident when you cut your foot, you said you had run into a table, no? Well, my thoughts are that the force of the said impact broke a couple bones and you just thought that the pain was from your cut. You're going to need some X-Rays to be sure, though." The doctor says, folding his glasses and putting them back inside his white coat pocket.

"I'll have one of my nurses set that up, in the meantime someone will clean and stitch up your cut and bring you something to help with the pain." With that the doctor got up from his chair, wheeling it back into the corner of the room, and left to check on other patients.

"Goddammit, Joonie. You just had to go and break some toes, too, huh?" Yoongi sighs, running a hand down his face as he falls into a chair beside the bed. "God, you're so lucky you're not an idol. Bang-PD would kill you. I mean, he is going to kill you, but it would be like 1000x worse if say, Jimin broke his foot right before their comeback."

Namjoon lets out a huff of acknowledgment, his face pale and sweaty from the pain.

"But does this mean Taehyung and I are down a manager-producer-big brother-friend-extraordinaire until you get better?" Jimin asks Namjoon, but it's Yoongi who answers.

"Probably, to be honest. But only for a while as he heals up. At least until he can walk around with his crutches or something without being in too much pain." He says tired eyes meeting Jimin's momentarily before worriedly moving back to Namjoon.

Jimin lets out a hum, coming to sit down in the other seat. "You know Taehyung will never let you live this down, right?" He asks seriously, to which Namjoon lets out a long whine. From the pain or the realization of all the teasing, he's gonna get, neither Yoongi nor Jimin knew. But if they had to guess, it was probably a mix of the two.

"Speaking of Taehyung," Yoongi starts quietly after a moment of silence. "Where is the dweeb? Don't you two normally work out together? Something about seeing your ass move around making Taehyung strive for both that ass and that devotion?"

"Ahaha, yeah he does seem to... Idolize my ass, as awkward as it is for me, huh? He's at home resting. He got a major stress migraine earlier," Jimin explains just as there was a knock on the door and a female nurse comes in smiling.

"Hello, Namjoon-ssi, I'm Mina and I'll be stitching up your foot for you tonight," She starts, taking a seat down beside his foot and wheeling in a tray full of medical things with her.

Jimin leans back in his seat and watches as Yoongi sits down beside him, leaning towards him to continue their conversation.  
"A stress migraine? You two aren't due for another comeback just yet, right? What's he so worked up over?" Yoongi whispered so as not to disturb the nurse helping Namjoon out.

"Yeah, I'm not too sure, but I think it has something to do with those weird drawings he had on his arm a while ago," Jimin whispered back, scooting over closer to Yoongi to hear him better.

"Oh, I almost forgot about those! They wouldn't come off with wipes, right?" Yoongi asks, eyes watching Namjoon look up wearily at the ceiling as the nurse rubbed some numbing cream around the cuts to help soothe the pain as she cleans it up.

"Yeah, but then, suddenly two days later they disappeared. Taehyung said he just used some rubbing alcohol and exfoliating to get it off, but he still got a huge reprimanding from Bang PD-nim and the company. We were able to re-instate the modeling contract but the photographer was glaring daggers at Tae the whole time, and he had Tae re-do so many takes that the boy had to stay behind a whole hour."

"Such a petty thing to do," Yoongi muttered, eyes meeting Jimin's briefly as he nodded understandingly, "Did the dweeb ever tell you where the drawings came from? Lord knows that boy can't draw that well."

"Nope, he's been avoiding answering that one for some reason." Jimin shrugged, attention shifting as another nurse, a male this time, came in to help Namjoon up to get some X-Rays.

Namjoon turned and gave his two friends a fleeting, worried glance as he walked out the door. Yoongi and Jimin rolled their eyes but waved to him despite that.

 _ **Several Years Ago; Busan, South Korea.**_

 _"Mom?" Jungkook called out, toeing off his shoes and dropping his backpack on the couch. He waited a minute, but there was no response. Jungkook sighed, trudging up the stairs towards his mother's room. She was probably sleeping._

 _She's been doing that lately, sleeping at odd hours of the day, staying up late at night. She loves to pretend that Jungkook can't hear her and the strange men she brings home, and Jungkook loves to pretend he can't hear them leaving before the sun rises._

 _His knuckles rasped on the door as he called out, "Mother?", and then slowly opened the door to peek inside. There was a lump on the bed, and Jungkook's suspicions were confirmed when his mother didn't even stir at the call of her name._

 _Shutting the door again, Jungkook huffs and makes his way into his room to change into something more comfortable than his school uniform. He slipped his jacket off and thought more about his mom._

 _She was depressed, he knew that. She hadn't been the same since that night his father had hit her. She'd retreated inside herself, becoming a shell of a mother, only going through the motions with caring for her son as if on auto-pilot._

 _Once Jungkook got old enough to care for himself properly, however, it was like she'd lost all hope. She stopped making meals, leaving that, along with the rest of the responsibilities, to Jungkook. Jungkook made himself lunches, made them both meals despite his mother barely touching the food._

 _He cleaned the house and did the laundry, made sure his mother drank enough water and got enough sun (even if it meant dragging her to go and stare blankly at the fence as she sat in a lawn chair outside), he even bought the groceries. He worked hard mowing lawns, cleaning cars, and other odd jobs for the money to get such necessities, his mother having been fired years before for never going into work._

 _Jimin, despite being his best friend, didn't know the extent of Jungkook's struggles. He knew his mother was depressed, knew that Jungkook did a lot of the chores, but he didn't know his mother brought home strangers, didn't know he was the providing for both of them. He certainly didn't know that his mother had a tendency to steal Jungkook's money and spending it on alcohol, drugs, and other things that made Jungkook cringe with worry and disgust. If Jimin did, he'd tell his parents and then they'd want to help, but he'd feel too guilty to accept it. Besides, they'd probably take him away from her, and he's all she has now. If Jungkook were to leave her, she'd surely disappear inside herself forever, she'd starve or something equally awful._

 _Jungkook cannot do that to her, not after all she's done for him. Protecting him from his own father, raising him for years, back before the incident._

 _Jungkook does, however, live for birthdays and Christmas, because that's when the Parks gift him new clothes and other things he desperately needs. Jungkook cannot afford to get such things seeing as all the money he earns all goes to the bills and groceries (and his mother's problems). When he was younger, still in middle school, the Parks would actually give him Jimin's hand-me-downs, which was a blessing he didn't appreciate enough. Because once he was around twelve, he grew to be bigger than Jimin, therefore not getting the hand-me-downs anymore._

 _Jungkook slipped on a BigBang t-shirt (a gift from Jimin that he loves dearly) and a pair of sweatpants before heading down the stairs to start making dinner. Jungkook's cooking skills, although definitely better than when he first started out, weren't amazing._

 _He couldn't cook much more than grilled cheese, boxed foods, tv dinners, and scrambled eggs. All of which were obviously so far from the Korean food he so craves. He can, however, cook rice. And they've got some Thai peanut sauce around here that they can put on top of it. He scoops out some rice from their bin and put it in the cooker. Then, he decided to pick up the house a little whilst he waited. He put on the rubber kitchen gloves meant for dishes and gets about picking up the messes his mother had made the night before._

 _He tried to not worry too much, but how could he not when all he's picking up are empty Soju bottles and sketchy looking needles?_

 _Jungkook's brain shuts down like it normally does when dealing with such things, and he blanks out until he's done_ cleanin _g._

 _Once the gloves are off and he can breathe evenly again, he checked the rice and seeing that it still had a while to cook, he opted to go and visit Jimin._

 _He left through the back door, striding across their slightly yellowed lawn, and climbed up over their back fence and into the Park's yard. Jungkook waved politely to Mrs. Park, who was stirring something in the kitchen, and he could see her smile and nod in response through the window. He walked across their much greener, well taken care of, yard to where his best friend was laying face down under the shade of their cherry tree. "I want to fuckin' die," Jimin grumbled into the earth, not even looking up at his friend who slid down the tree, sitting with his back to it._

 _Jungkook let out a soft snort, looking up through the pink blossoms at the bright sky as he tried to find shapes in the clouds. "Why?"_

 _"why?" Jimin mocked in an embarrassing attempt to lower his voice and imitate his friend. "Because, you know Daesuk?" Jungkook didn't even need to think about who Jimin was talking about, because yes, he did know Daesuk in a sense. Daesuk was a boy who attended the same dance club Jimin and Jungkook did. He was older, in his last year of highschool, and Jimin was impossibly infatuated with the boy. Jimin was crushing so hard on the boy that Jungkook once caught him writing their names together in his notebook; with hearts encasing their names, which had been written in disturbingly pretty handwriting, and everything. "You mean the dude you have a slightly obsessive crush on? Yeah, I know him, why?"_

 _"Fuck off, I'm not obsessive," Jimin said finally rolling onto his back and shooting a glare to Jungkook. He had imprints on his face where the earth pressed on it and a couple little bits of grass. "Anyway, he got his soul bond today," Jimin says, breaking eye contact and staring up at the clouds like Jungkook had earlier. "So? You've still got time, Jimin, maybe you still have a chance to be his-"_

 _"And he matched up with Jihee," Jimin says sounding dejected and his eyes glistening._

 _"Shit." Jungkook murmurs, and after only a moment's hesitation, he pulls his best friend into his arms. Jimin lets out a sniffle, pressing his face into Jungkook's chest, while the younger runs his fingers through his hair soothingly, knowing Jimin liked it. "I'm sorry, 'Minie," Jungkook whispered, squeezing his friend tighter, but Jimin only lets out a sob in response._

 _Jungkook normally doesn't like physical contact much, but he makes an exception for Jimin. He makes exceptions for Jimin in so many different ways, and he always will. He'll protect Jimin, just as Jimin'll protect him. "Well, maybe it's better this way, you know? That he got it before you confessed. Before he accepted it, because you're like, the best boy in the whole school who no one could ever refuse a confession from you. Anyway, this way it saves you an even worse heartbreak, yeah? Like, imagine you two date id for a while, all happy and gross and stuff, but then he finds out his soulmate isn't his amazing boyfriend? Its better that he found out before you two dated, that way it'll hurt less than having to lose that happiness… Or something." Jungkook, despite making a valiant effort to comfort his friend, knows that he still sucks at it. He's uncomfortable with this whole comforting with words thing, but Jimin knows this and is touched despite the less than uplifting words. He hums, sucking in a shuddering breath, trying to calm down._

 _"I juh-just thought he would buh-be muh-muh-my first, you, you know?" Jimin says, pressing his face in closer to Jungkook's chest with a whine, hiding his blush from the other. His words were stuttered and broken with his sobs, and Jungkook awkwardly continues to card his fingers in the other hair, left hand limply laying across Jimin's back in a half-asses hug. "And I mean, I nuh-know I cuh-could probub-probably have a guh-girl be my fuh-first buh-but that's suh-so cliche'd and so-so-so very sruh-straight, you know? I wanted tuh-to expess muh-my sexuality buh-by letting Daesuk tuh-take my vuh-virginity..."_

 _(Jimin was very, very much bisexual, having come out very nervously to Jungkook a couple years ago. He'd been so afraid Jungkook would be disgusted, wouldn't be his friend anymore, that he had nearly shit himself. Which is why Jungkook had been so amused when he shrugged nonchalantly and said "Cool. I prefer men's asses over boobs, though." Jimin had let out a squeak and asked almost in a daze if Jungkook was gay, to which he replied "Well, duh, I thought you knew. I mean I literally talk about Seungri's ass and G-dragon like 24/7. Have you ever heard me mention one female idol group? No? Exactly.")_

 _Jungkook was now very, very, stiff and awkward. He loves Jimin, but this was becoming uncomfortable. It's not like he wants to envision Jimin getting fucked, ew, that's his bro, bro._

 _"Pssh, don't feel bad about him not being your first. In fact, in the locker rooms the other day I caught a glimpse of him, and let me tell you, it is not worth being upset over. That shit is smaller than an eraser!" Jimin let out a wet laugh, shoving Jungkook away from him. The younger lets himself fall onto his side, dramatically pretending to die. Jimin rolls his eyes but flops down on his back next to Jungkook, only sniffling occasionally now._

 _The boy had only needed a nice, therapeutic cry, which he just got and now that his emotions are in better condition, Jimin starts to realize more and more of Daesuk's flaws. He wasn't even all that cute, really._

 _It's silent for a while, the spring breeze tossling their hair slightly, cherry blossom petals falling down around them slowly. Jungkook purses his lips as if in thought, before saying again. "No, really, it was smaller than an eraser! And," Jungkook rolls away from Jimin's fist, hurriedly standing up as he continued speaking, "And you know what they say about his skills in bed," Jungkook backed away from a glaring Jimin, "Dae-suk! Get it? Like they suck? Like- Holy shit!" Jungkook moves his head to the side to dodge a shoe that Jimin had thrown at him. Jungkook broke into a run, trying to escape a cursing (and giggling now that he was happier) Jimin, as he cackled loudly._

 _Jungkook's blissful ignorance would eventually end later that day, cold, hard reality crashing into him._

 __

 **Present day; Seoul, South Korea.**

Jungkook sits up in bed, rubbing at his eyes to rid them of the tears that had begun to collect there. The memory had been so vivid, so real and it stung deep inside Jungkook.

Jungkook's losing sleep lately, the stress of his last year of college and the contest all pushing his mind back into places he'd previously locked away. Dragging up memories from his past that he'd rather not relive. He'd thought that those scars had healed over, but now that he's suddenly being reminded of them, suddenly living them again in his dreams, he realizes that those wounds had only just begun to scab over. And that the stress has pushed him to pick and pull at those scabs, the itch too much to bear, re-opening them and exposing them to whoever wanted to rub salt in them.

Jungkook flung his blankets off him, running a hand down his face before finally slipping out and searching for the clothes he'd kicked off in his sleep. Once re-dressed, Jungkook zipped up his hoodie and locked his apartment. He needed a break from both his small apartment and also sleeping. His dreams are haunting him, reminding him why he can never commit to a relationship, why he only has one night stands. Reminding him of why he loathed his blank body, void of any bond.

Jungkook swallowed thickly, pulling his hoodie up over his head as he walked into a twenty-four hour market and made his way over to the fridges. He needed a drink, desperately. He didn't have class tomorrow, so he could sleep off his hang over guilt-free. And, maybe, just maybe, if he drinks enough he won't have any dreams the rest of the night.

Jungkook ignores the girl at the counter and the other person browsing the isles as he pulled on the silver handle. Peering inside the frosty fridge, he looked over his options before simply getting the cheapest bear that doesn't taste piss pour, and that he can easily get wasted on.

Grabbing a six pack, he makes his way to the counter only to slow at the snacks on his way. Biting his lip, the college student debates grabbing a bag of chips, when he finally thinks 'fuck it all, might as well', and grabs a bag before heading back to check out. He nearly bumps into the other man, and apologizes. The man, who had a black snapback, hoodie, and face mask on waves him off, gesturing for him to go first. "Thanks," Jungkook muttered, dropping his items off before the extremely uninterested woman, pulling his emergency twenty out. Whatever, this might as well be qualified as an emergency. If Jungkook loses anymore sleep, he'll probably faint in front of his classmates. Or maybe Hoseok, which is infinitely more scary than the public humiliation he'd get from the first option.

When he eyes the NyQuill on the counter, he hastily grabs two things of it and shoves it to the woman checking him out. The girl, Soomi, her name tag reads, raises an eyebrow and looks him up and down judgmentally, but doesn't say anything.

Jungkook flushes slightly and using his still sleep-filled voice says, "Haven't been sleeping."

The girl just holds her hand out for Jungkook's ID, blinking. "Nightmares, you see." The girl hums, typing in something but she doesn't seem very interested. "... Well, not nightmares, I guess. Just shit from my past I'd rather not think about, you know?" The girl looks up at him blankly as she presses a button and the cash register pops out. "Just.. Yeah. Didn't want you getting the wrong idea 'bout me or something..." Jungkook's feeling beyond embarrassed now, wishing he'd just shut up instead of trying to explain himself to her. He sounds like a literal idiot.

"What, that you're going to be drinking that six pack and two NyQuills all by yourself tonight to get blackout drunk and sleep a dreamless, sound sleep?" The man behind in asks, his voice although muffled through his mask, was laced with faint amusement.

"... Something like that, yeah," Jungkook says airily, eyes looking down to see the man was carrying electrolytes and some pain killers, nothing nearly as bad or embarrassing as Jungkook's items. He turns back around to grab hold of the single penny he got back, grabbing his bag and six pack before heading out of the shop.

He looked back over his shoulder at the stranger, only to meet eyes with the man. The eye contact sends chills down his spine, and Jungkook turned back around before he could trip in the dark.

It wasn't until Jungkook was on his second beer when he suddenly thought of something:

The man's eyes reminded him of someone he knew, Jungkook was sure of it... And his voice, it was faintly familiar to Jungkook as well. Jungkook just couldn't seem to remember where he'd maybe have seen the man.


	5. V

**Prepare to be disappointed™ (lmao hopefully not)**  
 **also don't kill me**

 **Hope you all enjoy the slightly longer chapter~ :)**

* * *

 _"I feel there is nothing truly more artistic than to love people" - Vincent Van Gogh_

"Come on, you _have_ to go!" Amber insisted, holding Jungkook back by his arm as they walked toward the fountain on campus grounds. Or more precisely, she was being dragged behind Jungkook as she pushed the heels of her sneakers into the ground in an attempt to slow the boy down. Jungkook easily pulled her weight and kept stubbornly walking on. "Jackson's leaving, this is your last chance to do something super wild and legendary before you get old and die alone!"

Jungkook had just dropped his submissions for the V-Min contest and Amber had caught him just as he was leaving the classroom. He'd decided on a total of four works; one watercolor painting and one charcoal sketch each.

His teacher had taken the little folder with a promise of sending them to BigHit along with the other submissions.

"I don't know, Am, those sorts of things aren't really my scene, you know?" Jungkook replied, choosing to ignore the jab at his non-existent dating life, stopping to turn and look at the girl. Amber kept her grip on his arm as if afraid he was going to bolt away. Her brow furrowed and her lips pulled down into a frown, she let out a sigh.

"But it could be! Not to be rude or anything, but like, when was the last time you got laid?" She asked moving her free hand around with a flourish. Rolling his eyes, Jungkook too let out a sigh of his own.

"Amber, honestly, do we need to be talking about this right now?" Jungkook started to move away and Amber latched on even tighter. Closing his eyes and taking a refreshing breath, Jungkook started to once again pull the smaller woman behind him.

Now she's just doing this because she's lazy, Jungkook just knows it. "Yes, we do, Jeon! The party is this weekend! It would be like a celebration for trying to win that competition!"

"What do you mean, trying?" Jungkook asks stopping to catch his breath and sit down on the fountain's edge. Amber slides down beside him but doesn't let go, if anything she tightens her hold on him.

"Well, I mean we most likely aren't going to winning it, are we? Have you seen Baekhyun's art? He's like a fucking pro already, don't know why he's taking college art classes when he could be teaching them." Amber huffs out, moving her hand to instead slide her arm into his own like she's done so many times before. "And then Mina's got mad skills too. Knowing her, she probably sent them in two giant oil paintings or something."

"You sure don't give either of us much credit, huh?" Jungkook grumbles looking off to the side at all the leafless trees. Fall's nearly coming to an end. Winter is coming up, and Jungkook can feel it in his bones that it's going to be a nasty one.

"Well, don't get me wrong, we're both amazing artists, no doubt in anyone's mind," except maybe mine. "But we need to be realistic, no? Those are just my best guess for who's going to win, is all."

Jungkook purses his lips but says nothing, instead of tugging on their intertwined arms indicating he wished to get up. "You wanna get ramyeon for dinner?" He offers but he's already heading in the direction of the restaurant.

"Is that even a question?" Amber asks with a smile, snuggling in closer to her best friend. "You're paying though," She adds innocently and Jungkook groans.

"God, you're such a leech,"

 **Four years ago:**

 _Jungkook ran a towel through his hair, drying it hurriedly as he stood in front of his, and up until just recently, Jimin's, bathroom mirror. Today was his first day of university, and he was so incredibly nervous it felt like when he was just a kid. Back before he'd met Jimin and he was all alone._

 _Would his classmates like him? Are they all already going to be paired off into friend groups? Will he be all alone, forever? Yes, his brain hissed at him venomously, you're weird, closed off, shy, awkward, and worst of all it was as if his brain paused for dramatic emphasis as Jungkook's hands too, stilled. You're soulmate-less._

 _Jungkook looked down at his bathroom counter, breathing a deep sigh as he threw the towel down without caring where it would land. "Goddammit, brain, give me a break." He said bitterly but his stomach still dropped at the reminder of his non-existent mark._

 _He stood before the closet with a hand on his chin as he examined it with a critical eye. Should he go for his classic white tee, jeans, and Timbs today? Or should he try out one of those black shirts he saw on sale at the store? Possibly wear one of those slightly more colorful shirts Jimin had insisted on getting him? His eyes ran over the red shirt with Iron Man on it and he bit his lip, unsure._

 _Why should it matter what I wear? It's not like I'm trying to impress anyone, anyways. Everyone is looking for their soulmate or a one night stand, nothing more. Why bother?_

 _Rolling his eyes, Jungkook's hands reach for one of the many white button-up shirts hanging, grabbing a clean pair of blue ripped jeans as well. Slipping the shirt over his head, he looked in his mirror and contemplated unbuttoning a few buttons or leaving them closed..._

 _They're all looking for their soulmates or one-night-stands, his brain echoed and with a slightly irritated look on his face Jungkook buttoned them all up again._

 _Grabbing a banana from the bowl on the kitchen counter, Jungkook grabbed his bag, house keys, and phone as he ran out the door._

 _"Mr. Jeon Jungkook." the man in question froze in the middle of the hallway, schooling his features before turning around to face the voice. "Ms, Lee! How have you been? I haven't seen you since, like, yesterday!" Jungkook gives her a sweet, fake, smile but the woman merely give him an unimpressed look._

 _"You can shove your fake familiarizes up your ass, Jeon." Ms. Lee huffs out, tugging on the leash that currently restrained a huge, fat dog. Their apartment building didn't allow pets, so Jungkook's not too sure how she manages to get away with having one._

 _He crouches down to pet the dog, as he listens to Mrs. Lee tell him about how she threw a bucket of eels onto her neighbors she shared half a balcony with that she didn't like. Jungkook was mildly amused, but also slightly worried that that could be him one day if he were to upset the old woman._

 _Jungkook, dumbfounded, opens and closes his mouth like an intellectual. "Buh-but why? What did they ever do to you?"_

 _The old lady shrugs, hobbling the way to her door. "Nothing, besides being insufferable…. And also because it's fun and I'm old so you young people can't do shit about it."_

 _(Jungkook had just then realized how much he wishes to be like that woman when he's older)_

 _He'd rushed off the instant Ms. Lee was inside her apartment, and outside, wanting to be on time for his first class._

 _Jungkook looked around him as he made his way towards the campus grounds, earbuds in and his phone playing "Save me" by Jimin and his partner, Taehyung. It's one of their newer songs and the sound of Jimin's high, melodic voice helps to soothe his nerves slightly. The deep, baritone voice that accompanied it, however, made his stomach flip flop oddly, but Jungkook's come to expect it._

 _His nose picks up on the rich scent of coffee and looking up from his phone, Jungkook searches for the source of it. There, to his right, was a little cafe just on campus grounds with a sign that read "Mind, heart, and Seoul cafe."_

 _Jungkook shrugged, pulling out one earbud, deciding to give this cafe a try. The bells on the door jingle, cheerfully announcing his arrival, and Jungkook's surprised to find that the cafe wasn't as full as he expected it to be. "Just a minute!" Chirped a voice from the back whilst the boy made his way to the counter. Jungkook was still looking over the menu when a mop of strikingly blonde hair obscured his vision._

 _But what was even more striking was the man's facial features. He had plush, pink lips, sweet almond eyes that sparkled from the lights, a strong jaw but surprisingly soft cheeks. His nose wasn't nearly as big as Jungkook's either (But that's no surprise. Jungkook's nose is rather large in his opinion,) He was in every sense of the word, beautiful. It was a little intimidating just how beautiful this man was, to be honest._

 _H gave a Jungkook a warm smile as the other listed his order, his blonde hair falling around his eyes as he wrote it down on the cup, almost like a halo. Was this man a model? An idol, possibly? Is there a hidden camera somewhere filming this all for some idol reality show?_

 _"Hmm, haven't seen you around here before... You a new student? Or are you just passing by?" The man asked not unkindly as he began to make Jungkook's coffee. Ah, so he's not an idol, then._

 _"Ah,_ _a new student. Just started this year," Jungkook explains as he made his way over to the waiting area on the other end of the counter._

 _"Ah, I thought so! Do you have any family here? Or are you all by_ _your_ _lonesome, wanting to make it big here in Seoul?" Seokjin asked as he mixed the ingredients together, eyes shifting up to meet Jungkook's briefly._

 _"Ahaha, well a little bit of both? My brother technically lives here, but he's always away for his job, so it's more like I'm all alone." Jungkook ok rubbed at the back of his neck, suddenly feeling a little tense despite the man's friendly demure._

 _"Oh my god, really? Are you all alone here? That's so sad! But don't worry, I'm sure you'll make lots of friends to keep you company while your brother is gone." Seokjin paused their conversation to put a lid on Jungkook's cup and pass it to the man across the counter._

 _"Well, good luck, Jungkook! If you ever need anything, and I mean anything, don't hesitate to ask! Hyung'll make sure to look out for you~ Make sure you're staying healthy and all that! Seoul can be a scary place to be all alone in, especially for someone as young as you starting such a scary new thing like college…" Seokjin took a deep breath and waved Jungkook off with a smile. "Oh, well, you get what I'm trying to say. I hope to see more of you, Jungkook!"_

 _Jungkook left the café feeling loads better than he had before. He was relieved to have found someone who showed an interest in being friends, and maybe even look out for him while Jimin was busy with his idol work._

 _He wasn't alone in this anymore, and Jungkook's heart felt lighter as he made his way to the classroom._

 _Jungkook practically ran out of the classroom, after his last class ended, wanting nothing more than to die._

 _He'd accidentally spilled his coffee onto this really pretty girl, who'd screamed at him for ruining her dress._

 _Jungkook had apologized profusely to her, cheeks tinted red and eyes wide in horror, but she'd just cussed_

 _him out and then suddenly started bawling her eyes out._

 _Her two friends had sent Jungkook dirty looks as they ushered the crying girl out and towards the bathrooms to get cleaned up. Jungkook stared off after them, mouth hanging open and humiliation thrumming in his veins as he felt every pair of eyes on him._

 _And if that wasn't bad enough, Jungkook had slipped on the liquid when trying to wipe up and now had coffee all in his hair and all over his white shirt. He hadn't had time to clean up like the girl had, either, because their teacher had come in and Jungkook couldn't run off then._

 _And later, Jungkook was then forced to sit in the very back next to this scary looking foreigner who had striking blue hair and a glare that could kill. The girl had to move her backpack and things off the table to make room for Jungkook, and she didn't seem too pleased about it._

 _"Hello, I'm Jungkook." Jungkook stuck out his hand to the girl, who was drinking what looked like a Rebel ("rebels give you wings!" Jungkook thought idly of the commercial). She turned to_ _him but didn't say anything._

 _Suddenly worried that the girl might be an exchange student who didn't know Korean yet, he rushed out a hesitant (and probably sloppily pronounced), "Um… Hello, my name is Jungkook. It's nice to meet you," The girl blinked at him, uninterested still, but Jungkook thought he saw the hint of a smile on her face before she hid it behind her drink. She gave him a once-over, muttered a 'Sup,' and then simply ignored Jungkook for the entirety of the lesson._

 _Now, as Jungkook sat on the fountain, with his hands in his (still red) face, he was beginning to wish Jimin was here with him. He knew this was bound to happen, the stress of living alone, starting college, and the humiliation from earlier triggering his anxiety and homesickness._

 _Jimin's company was gearing up to debut something (whether it be a solo, duet, or the common and ever-popular boy band) soon, so he was asked to move into a dorm with the other trainees while they waited to be either eliminated or debuted._

 _Jungkook needed his brother, so badly, but he also knew that he needed to grow up. He'd known about this ever since Jimin got into BigHit and was officially a trainee. He knew that ever since Jimin expressed his dreams of being an idol, even, that he'd have to give up his home so that he could shine._

 _Jimin was his home, and he'd have to live without it, share it with millions of people, and grow up on his own now._

 _Jungkook stood up, ran a hand down his face and decided to take to subway home this time. He didn't think he'd be able to walk all the way home without crumbling and having an anxiety attack._

 _Sitting in a packed subway with all the noise and smells would normally trigger a panic attack for other people, but for Jungkook it was the exact opposite. Being in large crowds normally did upset him, make him feel small and awkward, but for some_ _reason, it was different for the subway._

 _Being practically smashed up against other people, everyone ignoring him, not bothered by his close proximity, it soothed his soul. It was like he was just any other man in Seoul like he wasn't_ cursed without a soulmate _. Like he wasn't awkward and just 'that one idol's old neighbor' or 'Jimin-ah's childhood best friend'. Like he wasn't practically orphaned. He was just Jeon Jungkook. A stranger to all these people, not someone to pity or be disgusted by._

 _In a weird way, it was one of the only places he could lose himself in the chatter and screech of brakes. It was the only other place he could lose himself and just forget about all his worries and think things through clearly. The other place wasn't really a place per se, but it was when he went on runs. Jimin used to chide him for overworking himself whenever he had a lot on his mind, Jungkook thinks with a bittersweet smile on his face._

 _When the subway lurched hard the boy almost fell into someone next to him, and he turned around to apologize, only for Jungkook to pause. He knew that blue hair-well, sorta- and those glaring brown eyes._

 _His deskmate was glaring up at him, clearly not amused, but before Jungkook could even apologize, she'd already turned around with a huff._

 _They kept bumping into each other with each lurch, only to be shoulder to shoulder with one another when more people came onto the already packed subway. She looked slightly miffed about this, but neither of them could do anything about it._

 _Suddenly, she jumped beside him, turning around to face him with an accusing look on her face. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked in slightly broken Korean, to which Jungkook could only reply with "Huh?"_

 _Very good, Jeon. Way to show you're not a total idiot._

 _"You know what I mean!" She hissed, face getting closer to him. Jungkook's brain was short-circuiting as he tried to understand what was going on. He hadn't done anything, had he? "Um, no, I really don't," Jungkook said slowly, brows furrowed and eyes squinted in confusion._

 _She huffed, gave him a look filled with so much disgust, before turning away and mumbling in English, "Ts, Korean men think they're all that. Fuckin' players, all of 'em,"_

 _It seemed like whatever she thought had happened was forgotten until she suddenly growled out a "That's it," and before Jungkook could even react, the girl had turned around-as best she could in the tiny amount of personal space they had-and clocked him right in the face._

 _Jungkook's head whipped backward, hitting the pole behind him with a loud Clang! boy let out a groan, eyes squeezed shut as he cradled his right eye. Red-hot pain was blooming where she'd hit him, and his vision was swimming with colors._

 _"What the fuck, man?!" Jungkook yelled at her, not caring that they were making a scene, his left eye was cracked open to look at her._

 _She didn't seem the least bit sorry, in fact, if anything she seemed very pleased with herself. "Serves you right for touching my ass," She sneered at him, arms crossed over her chest as she watched Jungkook practically fall into the seat someone had given up for him. "I didn't touch shit," Jungkook grits out, pinching his nose in an attempt to stop the bleeding._

 _"Yeah, and I'm Michelle Obama." She replied hotly, turning away from him and ignoring the stares of the people around her. Jungkook rolled his eyes but didn't do anything after that. Suddenly Jungkook decided that maybe he didn't want to go abroad if everyone is this rude (and scary, but Jungkook doesn't need to announce that bit)._

 _The girl, suddenly goes rigid in front of him, eyes going wide and horror washing over her face as she looked down at Jungkook. He glared up at her but didn't say anything as she slowly but surely turned around to face the man behind her._

 _"Oh my god, it was you all along!" She said, outraged before she punched him (is she always this violent?!) with so much force the man was sent flying into the people behind him and onto the floor._

 _Then, she turned around to him with her wide, crazy eyes and her electric blue hair disheveled. If Jungkook shrunk back just a bit, no one seemed to notice._

 _"I am, fuck, I am so, so, sorry!" She all but shoves the woman sitting next to Jungkook to the ground as well, plopping down on the seat and grabbing Jungkook's shoulders in concern. "I swear I don't normally just throw punches at random dudes on the subway, but someone kept touching my ass and… Well, I guess I just assumed it was you because you were right there, and you kept bumping into me before and… None of that excuses my actions and holy shit I didn't break your face or something, did I?"_

 _She was rambling in half English and half Korean, guilt and worry etched onto her face, and wow, okay, this girl was really pretty when she wasn't scowling all the time._

 _She turned around to the man behind them, the one who had groped her and was currently clutching his bloody nose in shock, and with a fire in her eyes said, "But I'm not sorry to you! You should be ashamed of yourself! You pervert, you, you… You 미친높 (Michinnop)!"_

 _Jungkook's head was pounding, but he didn't think he'd hit it that hard on the pole. "Crazy high?" Jungkook asked the foreigner, who glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "Crazy high? What do you mean by that?" Jungkook asked again, looking at some of the other people on the subway._

 _Some shrugged, others looked to be thinking hard, and others were still startled and shocked by the fact a foreigner with dyed hair had punched not one but two men within in the time span of three minutes._

 _The girl had taken notice of how some of them were mumbled 미친높 under their breath as if it were a riddle, and suddenly her cheeks were tinted with a pretty pink shade. "Did I say something wrong?" She whispered from the corner of her mouth at Jungkook, her finger still pointed accusingly at the man who groped her._

 _"Um, you said something along the lines of "crazy high" in Korean," Jungkook explained saying the translation in slurred English. "Oh. Huh. I meant it to be a curse word-"_

 _"Ah! You meant to say 미친놈!" A middle school student spoke up, and all the people on the train gasped dramatically, and the foreigner smiled proudly. "That's right! You 미친놈! For shame!" She swiped her right index finger across her left one in a sign of shaming._

 _The man was beyond embarrassed at both being caught, and from the huge_ _scene that the girl had created. Jungkook can understand, he would surely die if he was the sole person under all that scrutiny, too._

 _"The next stop is right near a hospital, let's get off there and I'll make it up to you by buying you dinner and taking you to get your face checked up and oh god, I'm so, so, so, sorry!" The girl turned back to him, attitude having taken a full 360 from just moments ago._

 _Jungkook stared at her through his one eye, mouth hanging open, and she just kept blinking up at him hopefully. "I'm really so sorry, sir, honestly," she insists again, and Jungkook just nods his head numbly._

 _"It's-uh- it's okay?"_

 _"No, it seriously isn't, good I'm so, so sorry and_ _Jesus, you're my deskmate and everything and I was an ass earlier to you too, didn't even introduce myself when you did," She sighs, running a hand down her face-although she skillfully avoids her eyes, making sure not to smear the makeup there-before their 'stop' is called and she's dragging Jungkook up out his seat and out the doors._

 _"God, I must look so crazy right now," Jungkook laughs as they walk up the stairs and out into the city. The girl hums questioningly but doesn't speak. "I mean I have all these stains on my white shirt from when I fell in my coffee,"_

 _The girl snorts, saying "I remember that! God, you looked like an idiot. Fond memories," and Jungkook ignores her as he continues explaining, "And now I have blood stains on said dirty shirt, and a blooming black eye to pair. Not to mention I'm walking around with a girl with shocking blue hair and a scary scowl."_

 _The girl rolls her eyes, but still mumbles an apology as they walk around a woman trying to calm down her crying child._

 _"So, what's the scary, blue-haired girl's name then?" Jungkook asks as they start to walk towards what he assumes is the hospital. The girl looks over at him, briefly before suddenly sliding herself under his arm. "It's Bonner." She hops up, lifting some of Jungkook's weight onto her. She'd seen him start to slow down, and she didn't want to risk him fainting. He could have a concussion! "Amber Bonner. I'm, well if my hideous Korean skills and heavy accent didn't give it away, Australian."_

 _"I like your accent. It's pretty, like that idol, Rose!" He says brightly and Amber looks at him thankfully, "You know that's all anyone asks me in class," she says as they wait at the cross walk, "'Do you know Chaeyoung?!' or 'You're from Australia! You don't happen to know that one idol, rose, do you?' like all of us down in New Zealand and Australia are neighbors or something."_

 _"Oh…" Jungkook doesn't really know what to say now that Amber's suddenly all talkative and less 'look at me if you want to lose some fingers' or whatever. "Well, um, your Korean is still miles better than my English will probably ever be."_

 _"Really? We'll have to test that theory out sometime. And, thank you for saying that. I started to learn the basics last year, but I heard that immersion is the best way to learn a language, so I hopped on a plane to Korea a couple of months ago and transferred colleges. Still wanted to get my arts degree and stuff, you know?"_

 _Jungkook hums, the hospital coming up in the distance. "Again, I'm really sorry about the whole… Punching you... thing," She says, having also seen the large building. Jungkook shrugs as best he can with her underneath his arm saying, "I already told you, it's fine. If someone decided to grope me up, I'd probably want to punch them too… Or, well, depends on who it is and if they're hot enough," Jungkook_ _jokes and Amber lets out an amused huff of laughter._

 _"No, it really isn't… Like, at all. But!" She shifts her hold on Jungkook's arm, taking more of his weight just to be considerate, "In my defense, all the college guys here think that just because I'm foreign, that I'm easy or something. Like, hello, just because I didn't grow up in a society that makes such topics as sex taboo to speak about, doesn't mean I'll just hop on whoever approaches me! I'm a classy lady," She sniffs exaggeratedly and Jungkook decides it would be better to not say anything about how she literally burped for twenty-five seconds straight during their shared class earlier that day. "You're different, though. You haven't made one move on me at all, despite quite literally having me in your arms." She looks at him inquisitively, and Jungkook feels his face flush slightly as he coughs._

 _"Ahaha, yeah, can't relate, to the appeal of having women hanging off you…. Strictly into dicks," He replies, voice getting smaller and higher, but to his surprise, Amber just makes an understanding noise and shrugs (her shoulder wedging itself higher into Jungkook's armpit, rather uncomfortably) "Cool, now I have a best friend I know won't want to get into my pants,"_

 _Jungkook's chest filled with warmth at the prospect of being best friends, and he smiled softly at her. "Yeah, although I might have to keep an eye on you," Amber makes a confused noise, leading them through the doors of the hospital, her blue hair falling into her eyes, "It's just that, I know how irresistible I can be," he jokes, earning a poke in the ribs from his new friend._

 _("I really do look insane, though, don't I?" Jungkook asked after the woman working reception's eyes had nearly bulged out her head as she paged a doctor. Amber turned to him, stepping away to inspect his appearance as Jungkook leaned on the counter._

 _"Oh yeah, no, totally insane. Like if I saw you walking on the streets I'd cross to the other side kind of insane," she says with a smirk and Jungkook rolls his eyes. "No, no, no, don't roll your eyes at me, I didn't say it wasn't a good look on you! I merely meant you had that rare homeless-person aesthetic going on.")_

 _And that was that._

 _If anyone wondered why Amber, the seemingly unapproachable foreigner was suddenly sharing her infamous energy drinks and chips with Jeon Jungkook, no one spoke up._

 _If anyone wondered why Jungkook had a swollen, black eye and a sprained nose the next day at school, or why he was laughing at crudely drawn dicks with Amber like elementary kids, no one spoke up then, either._

 **Present Day:**

Jungkook let out a deep sigh, plopping down on his couch after taking a long, hot shower in hopes of clearing his muddled thoughts, and maybe relax his tense muscles.

He'd had a long, delicious meal consisting of ramen noodles with Amber (who had actually ended buying them, saying that this was totally not her trying to bribe him to go to the party that weekend, but for him to also let her know if it's working.) and his stomach was crying out as it's the fullest it's been in days (if you leave out his huge, heavenly meal of lamb skewers he'd had with Hoseok recently).

After dinner they had gone to a laser tag place and played against a bunch of middle schoolers (They crushed them. There is no mercy, no shame, and no regrets in the laser arena) and Amber had, once again, paid for it. Once again, this isn't a bribe… Unless you want it to be, and if so, this is totally a bribe please come to the party me, and but if you don't want it to, then this is all just an act of kindness from your favorite Australian hoe, alright?

Jungkook wants to go to the party, but at the same time, he doesn't. But, then again, it is the last time Jackson will be throwing one of his parties, and Jungkook really should go just to say he's been to one. Besides, with Jungkook being so stressed lately, he could use an easy lay.

Jungkook's heart thrums in disagreement with the idea of sleeping with someone who isn't their soulmate, but he easily reminds himself that it's been three years and that he's in college, aka the living epitome of one night stands and bad decision.. (Not the best excuse ever, but it's enough to ease the pain in his chest.) ((Slightly)).

Who knows, maybe he'll meet another cursed soul to date for a while.

Jungkook shudders at the thought of non-soulmate relationships. He hasn't seen too many of those, but the ones he has… Well, they haven't been the best, to say the least.

Jungkook's phone beeps with a text, and he feels his brows furrow when he notices it's from Jimin.

Jimin was supposed to be in Japan for a fan meet as they gear up for both a comeback and a world tour this year.

The text is short and simple, asking if he had time to FaceTime with his "Beloved Hyungie"

Jungkook rolls his eyes, wanting to really decline just because of Jimin's smug attitude, but a small smile still spreads onto his face and he replies with a yes (Traitor, he thinks to his mouth, you weren't meant to show you're actually happy to hear from him).

A few seconds later, his phone is ringing and Jimin's face pops up on the screen, all bright smiles and curved eyes. He picks it up without hesitation, ignoring the fact that it was almost two in the morning. His hair had just dried, falling down into his eyes and parting down the middle. It always does that if he doesn't stubbornly force it to part some other way, and even then it'll probably fall into some sort of part he doesn't like.

Jungkook's got a love-hate relationship with the middle part, you see. He can't tell if sometimes it looks cute, or if it sometimes looks like a fortune cookie and a coconut got super drunk, and his hair is their love child.

Jimin's face suddenly fills his screen, Jungkook's own little self-cam up in the corner, and Jimin smiles warmly at him. His blonde hair is hidden beneath a black hat with silver rings.

("You look like an edgy teenager, hyung," Jungkook had said to Jimin the first time he'd seen him wear it. Jimin had simply scoffed, looked Jungkook up and down and replied with a raised eyebrow, "Says the living cliché of an angst-y, emo, but still pretends to be trendy, teenager,")

Jungkook gave a little, slow wave to his best friend as he waited for Jimin to say something. "Hey, how are you, Kook-ah?" Jimin's voice cracked a bit due to the long distance and bad reception, but it was still so distinctly Jimin, that Jungkook felt a wave of something akin to homesickness. He and Jimin text, of course, they do, but Jungkook almost never hears his friend's voice anymore. The time he gets to hear Jimin speak is when they meet up, or call-which both were so rare, it hurts, or if he watches Jimin's lives and interviews.

But to hear Jimin speak something so simple, something unfiltered and not scripted, it made an odd sense of longing, and relief, sprout inside Jungkook.

Jungkook sagged with relief at seeing Jimin's warm brown eyes blinking at him, and he let out a small smile. "I'm good, I've missed you a lot, surprisingly," Jungkook replies, kicking his feet out to lay on his make-shift coffee table with ease.

The coffee table was made out of an old, large window and the smooth back of a door that he'd snatched from a construction site by his college. They were going to throw it out, having bulldozed the whole lot down, so Jungkook liked to think that it was okay for him to take them. He'd re-painted it white, added some legs to it and voila! A new, hipster coffee table that he'd made for, like, ₩22000! The glass side even opens up so he can store some things inside it.

(At the moment all there is are some pencils, a couple spare sketchbooks for different media types (in case he desperately needs a specific one and can't find his usual sketchbooks), and an actual book. If he had a tv, he'd probably have his remote on or inside that, too.

"Aish, just admit that you love me with your whole being and that I'm heaven-sent for becoming your friend back in third grade," Jimin says, eyes squinting at Jungkook who just scoffs playfully.

"I think you mean I'm the heaven-sent one for becoming your friend. I protected you from all those big, scary bullies and taught you how to play Pokémon on my DS." Jungkook replies easily, and Jimin just hums.

"I am pretty lucky to have met you, huh?" His voice is softer now, more serious. Jungkook's playful smirk is off his face in an instant, and he snaps his eyes back up to Jimin's through his phone screen.

"Nah, we're both lucky to have found each other, yeah? Without you and your responsible self, I would have been shipped off to jail in a second." Jungkook muses, thinking back to the last time he'd been caught doing something illegal, and how Jimin had always swooped in and saved him.

 _"Come on, Jungkook! This is so stupid, god, you're so stupid, we're going to get caught and I'm going to go to jail with you and I'm going to become some scary man's prison bitch and holy shit, Jungkook you've basically just sold my V-card to a serial killer!" Jimin was rambling nervously as his eyes flitted between Jungkook, the train they Jungkook was painting on, and the dark, quiet railroad. His face mask was hanging off one ear, the bear face on it swinging slightly with every disapproving shake of Jimin's head._

 _Jungkook, 16 at the time, just snorted loudly as he added red flames to skull's eye sockets. His own face mask was pulled down under his chin, just a plain black one. "God, calm down, Jimin. Nothing is going to happen to us, they aren't even going to know anyone was here until the next morning! We were extra careful not to be seen by the camera's, the security guard's probably napping like he always is, and-"_

 _"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!" Jungkook's stomach swoops nervously as he drops the spray can instantly. "Shit! Run!" Jimin grabs Jungkook's wrist and drags him away from their bags of paint and chips._

 _"Goddamit, Jungkook, I knew this was going to happen. God, if I really do have to give a serial killer my virginity I will never forgive you, Jeon!" Jimin sounds hysterical now, eyes wide as they run away from the security guard and his dog. "This is why I should never agree to you and your stupid, cliché teenage angst outbursts! I'm not a rebel, Kook! I'm not made for life in prison!" Jungkook glances over their shoulders at the man, trusting Jimin to guide him for a few seconds, already tuning out his best friend's ramblings. They both shove their face masks on and pull their hoodies up to try and conceal their identities as Jungkook does so._

 _The security guard had his flashlight trained on them in the distance, guard dog struggling against his leash as he barks and bites viciously into nothing. God, Bowser can be so scary when he's working, Jungkook thinks as he cannot believe that's the same dog he was practically cuddling with just earlier that day._

 _They weaved in and out of the immobile trains, jumping through open railcars, trying to escape the guard. Jimin looked close to pissing himself when he heard sirens in the distance. The security guard had called the_ police, _because he was a dirty no good snitch, who apparently couldn't handle two teenagers on his own. More voices and_ shouting, _and Jungkook glanced one look behind them as they rounded one train. A loud, obnoxious whistle caught both Jimin and Jungkook's attention. There was a train racing their way, not intending to stop here. Jungkook got a brilliant idea, one that was risky but, if executed correctly, would ultimately be worth staying out of jail._

 _"Hyung, you trust me, right?" Jungkook asked hurriedly, voice slightly muffled through his mask, as he sent worried glances behind them. "Really starting to wonder why I do, but yeah. I trust you, why?"_

 _Jungkook hums but doesn't reply as his eyes scanned the incoming train in hopes of finding what he needed. The voices were getting louder, and Jimin was squirming around no doubt wanting to run farther away, but he stayed for Jungkook._

 _When the younger boy found what he was looking for, he picked Jimin up easily (In the very back of his mind he was worried by just how light Jimin was again) and threw him onto a passing train. Jimin let out a horrifying scream, landing harshly next to some wooden crates with a loud string of curses. Jungkook threw one last, fleeting look over his_ shoulder, _before he took off to catch back up with the train. A police officer had caught up with them, his fingers just grazing Jungkook's hoodie as the boy jumped up and onto the side of the train. The two boys zoomed off, leaving the police and security man behind._

 _Jungkook took a moment to catch his breath before pulling himself up into the railcar beside Jimin, who looked white as paper and was clutching his heart in a dazed way._

 _"What the fucking hell, Jungkook?! I could have died, you could have died! We don't know where this train is headed and graduation is tomorrow night and what the fuck am I doing with my life-"_

 _Jungkook falls down onto his back with a huff, a giggle rising up inside him and escaping. Jimin stops his rant to look down at his friend, confused. "What's so funny?" His voice was the farthest thing from amused, and that also caused Jungkook to giggle more. Suddenly, he was laughing full-on, and Jimin cracked a smile._

 _Jungkook's laughter was contagious, and Jimin began to laugh, too, despite him. "God, when_ eomeoni _is going to kill us when we get home," Jungkook sighed once they stopped laughing, and Jimin had come to rest beside him._

 _"Just tell her we planned a day trip wherever we end up, and that we forgot to mention it. She'll believe it, you're such an idiot when it comes to those things," Jimin replied, rolling over to face Jungkook. "But you're right, she'll still be pissed."_

 _"Speaking_ eomma _… Have you gone to visit her recently?" Jimin asked softly but the younger still tensed up. His silence was answer enough to the elder, who sighed loudly and over-dramatically. "Jungkookie, honey, you've already promised to come to Seoul with me next month, this may be the last time you can-"_

 _"I don't want to talk about this right now, Jimin. Can we just sit here and wait until we see a city to jump off at?" Jungkook sighed, closing his eyes tightly and Jimin knew that the boy wasn't going to open up anymore. With another, extremely dramatic sigh, Jimin relented._

 _Jungkook still cracked a smile when Jimin kept sighing and dramatically laying the back of his hand on his brow bone._

 **Present Day:**

"God Mom practically beat our asses the next day when we came home covered in mud and smelling like a fishes' asshole," Jimin cackled, recalling the same memory as Jungkook.

"Yeah well that was your fault for slipping and pulling us into a barrel of dead fish," Jungkook laughs with him, remembering how Jimin had slipped on the wet dock and had grabbed Jungkook for support. Only they'd both ended up falling into a huge, opened barrel of dead fish.

"Okay, but it was your fault we were even there in the first place! You and your rebel self, dragging me, the school angel, off to vandalize as a last hurrah before high school graduation. Still, don't know why I let you do it," Jimin hummed, and Jungkook let out a weak giggle.

They get quiet for a moment, both lost in their thoughts before Jungkook shakes his head, letting his freshly washed hair flop this way and that over his forehead. Jimin's eyes latch onto the movement, and he seems to come back into reality. "So, how's the competition drawings coming along?" He asks as he shuffles around on what Jungkook assumes is his hotel bed. "I've actually already turned them in. The due date was the end of this week, so I worked like a bazillion times better under the pressure of that, for some reason,"

"Wait, really? You've finished?! YES! I KNEW YOU'D PULL THROUGH! PEOPLE TOLD ME I WAS CRAZY FOR BELIEVING IN YOU, BUT I TOLD 'EM, I TOLD 'EM JEON JUNGKOOK WOULD COME THROUGH, AND YOU DID!" Jimin screeched at him and Jungkook winced, pulling his phone as far away as he could while still being in the shot of the camera.

"God, don't be so loud, Hyung. And who are these 'people' that you've been speaking about me to-"

"Okay so maybe there weren't any 'people', but still, I never doubted you, my beautiful little dongsa-"

Jungkook hung up on Jimin, but he still had a small smile in place. Jimin immediately called him back, wasting not even a second. Jungkook picked it up, already preparing for the mouthful he was going to get from Jimin.

"You are by far, the rudest brother I could ever ask-" There was a knock at Jimin's door, interrupting the boy. Jungkook could faintly head the sound of someone calling out 'roomservice!' before Jimin excused himself and left Jungkook to stare up at the ceiling through Jimin's camera.

Hey, the ceiling looked kinda nice from where Jungkook was laying (or rather where Jimin's phone was laying) and he could already tell just by the color and texture that Jimin's hotel room was probably nice.

The boy in question returned moments later, helping a young woman set down dishes on the table. Once done Jimin bowed politely to the woman and thanked her, watching her leave his room before coming back over to pick his phone up. "Sorry, that was my dinner," He says, walking back over to the table and Jungkook could see a vast array of dishes. There was steaks, rice, kimchi, some champagne and sprite-Hoseok let out a proud cheer in the back of Jungkook's head-and many more side dishes along with what looked like two different slices of cake.

All in all Jimin was eating enough food to feed a family of six, easily. "You're just now eating dinner?" Jungkook asked instead of stating the obvious amount of food, not wanting to make Jimin uncomfortable and not eat. Heaven only knows the elder could use to gain a few extra pounds. "Yeah, I didn't get the chance to eat last night or today. Too busy with the fan meet and photoshoots… Plus, we got back to the hotel like an hour and a half ago, and I showered before ordering food." Jimin shrugged, propping his phone up so he could still talk and use both hands to eat. He cut into his steak first, holding his fork a little oddly, but otherwise managing pretty well. "Anyways, you doing anything for Halloween? I'm only recording a special dance practice and then I'm gonna sleep the rest of the holiday away," Jimin laughed before carefully taking a bite of the steak.

He lets out an appreciative hum as he patiently waits for Jungkook to speak. "Ah, well, I wasn't really planning on doing anything… But a couple of my classmates have been trying to get me to go to this big party," Jungkook said, brows furrowing as once again at having to think of the party. God, he really did not want to go, but at the same time he really did want to. "So?" Jimin prompts, using his chopsticks to shovel kimchi into his mouth, wanting to save the steak for last seeing how good it had been. . "So what?" Jungkook asks back, stomach growling at the sight of all the food. He got up and made his way to the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing a banana milk from the pack he'd swiped from Ms. Lee the last time she'd had him over.

"So, are you going to go? Sounds like it could be fun, Kook,"

"Well, that's the thing, I'm not too-" A loud bang makes Jungkook jolt, and he looks over at his phone, worried about his best friend. Jimin looked shocked too, staring up at something Jungkook couldn't see, but didn't need to, because he knew just what is was when he heard it speak.

Or whom it was, to be more precise.

"Jiminie, I've come to eat, like, all your food with you!" Taehyung cheerfully called, making his way closer to the table.

Jungkook dropped down and hid behind his counter until he remembered that Taehyung wasn't actually there with him, and he stood back up. Jimin's eyes flickered down to his phone, still a little shocked at his friend's sudden appearance.

"Why are you looking like-Oh! Are you doing a live?" Jungkook saw Taehyung's striped sleeve come into view and it was all he needed before he hung up on Jimin for the second time that night.

The last thing he heard was "No, Taehyungie, I was actually just talking to-"

Jungkook's thoughts were once again flooding with Taehyung, and his heart skipped a beat as he realizes just how close he'd come to seeing Taehyung. Albeit through a phone screen, but still. He almost saw a carefree, make-up free, just raw Taehyung, Taehyung!

What would the elder have said if he had seen Jungkook? Would he think Jungkook was attractive, or would he have thought his hair really did look like a fortune cookie and coconut's love child?

Jungkook's hand absently reaches up to touch it, banana milk sitting forgotten on the counter. Would Taehyung be bored with his black hair? Should he maybe try to dye his hair for the first time? Would Taehyung maybe give him a chance? If he did find Jungkook attractive, would he want to pursue something? But surely he couldn't, even if he wanted to, right? Don't idols only get to date if they find their soulmates, and even then it's all kept a secret to keep up the illusion for fans? What if he and Taehyun were-

Jungkook forced that train of thought out of his mind, heart sinking. What the hell was he doing thinking things like this? He and Taehyung couldn't be soulmates, he is dead!

Jungkook let out a growl, messing up his hair in annoyance. He needed to stop these weird fantasies, this false hope. He needed to move on from his delusions of meeting Taehyung and wooing him; he needed to be realistic, and being realistic means trying to find someone he could cherish… Maybe even try a relationship with, if it got serious.

With a bitter taste in his mouth, he texted Amber, picked up his banana milk, and made his way to his bedroom.

Jungkook downed the last of the Nyquil that he'd gotten the night before, but even then he couldn't sleep restfully. He dreamt of that mop of gray hair that seemed to haunt his every waking-and now sleeping-breath, of Halloween parties, and of a man with familiar eyes, but with a hidden face.

* * *

 **Seymour Butz:**

 **[First of all, why the fuck is**

 **that my name? And secondly,**

 **I'm going to that party]**

 _*heart* Fuck off *heart*_

 _[ahahaha I'm sorry,_

 _I'm just so fuckin' baked_

 _rn, and I forgot ur name_

 _was that and holy shit_

 _dude, I'm literally in tears_

 _rn]_

 **Seymour Butz:**

 **[why are you like this]**

* * *

Taehyung rolls his head under the harsh spray of thehotel shower, his thoughts escaping his hold once more.

When he'd entered Jimin's room earlier that night through their adjoining door, he'd overheard a tad of the conversation Jimin was having.

Earlier that night:

" _-but a couple of my classmates have been trying to get me to go to this big party_ ," the voice on the other side of the screen had said. There was a moment of silence before Jimin spoke up, shoving kimchi into his mouth afterward. "So?"

 _"So what?"_ there was that voice again, smooth despite the lag of bad reception, deep and calming. Taehyung thinks he might have heard that voice before, but he can't seem to place where.

"So, are you going to go? Sounds like it could be fun, Kook,"

" _Well, that's the thing, I'm not too-"_

Taehyung was suddenly feeling a little guilty for having eavesdropped on his best friend's private conversation with someone he was obviously very comfortable with. He re-opened their adjoining door, slamming it shut loudly and pretending to have just walked in.

Jimin looked up with wide, shocked eyes. Taehyung plastered a wide smile on his face, striding over to where his friend sat, gaping at him. "Jiminie, I've come to eat, like, all of your food with you!" He exclaimed happily, but Jimin just continued to stare. "Why are you looking like-" Taehyung started innocently as he moved closer and dragged his eyes down to where Jimin had his phone propped up. "Oh! Are you doing a live?" His wrist had only just barely laid to rest on Jimin's shoulder before his friend exclaimed hurriedly that, "No, Taehyung I was actually just talking with an old friend-"

Jimin tried to shove Taehyung away, and the boy had caught a glimpse of the screen, eyes scanning what looked like a shocked face, before suddenly the call ended, the other participant having hung up. Jimin swiped his phone up and away before Taehyung could see who it was he was talking to, and any possible texts.

"Ugh, I can't believe you chased him away!" Jimin groaned, dramatically glaring up at his friend who'd already stolen a bite of rice. Taehyung smiled sheepishly at him and swallowed the food, "I didn't mean to! How was I supposed to know he was idol shy?!"

Jimin just rolled his eyes, a little irked at his friend, and shut his phone off. It was silent for a moment as Jimin began to split his food into two portions, sharing everything but his beloved steak. "I don't get even one bite?" Taehyung said, batting his eyelashes prettily as he begged.

"No." Jimin said harshly, making a big show of taking a huge bite out of the meat, chewing exaggeratedly in Taehyung's face.

Taehyung pouted, ready to whine when Jimin held a hand up. "Don't even try it. You chased away my friend and I hardly ever get to FaceTime him! You know how hectic our schedules can be, I never have the time for anything other than our work anymore!"

Taehyung once again had guilt flash inside him briefly. He really hadn't meant to scare away his friend, he was just curious! He pokes at the food Jimin did share with him and it was silent once more, only the sound of silver wear hitting the plates filling the room.

"So, it's a _him_ , huh?" Taehyung prompted, wanting to get rid of the tense atmosphere. "Is this 'him' perhaps someone I know? Or a possible past lover?" He wagged his eyebrows suggestively, but Jimin just shoved him with a weak laugh.

Taehyung sighed, leaning against the side of the shower. He decided to shove the thoughts of their dinner aside, focusing on something else.

His mind wandered to the encounter he'd had with the cutie at the convince store a while ago. He'd gone to get some medicine and electrolytes in hopes of breaking his migraine. The boy had wide, doe-like eyes and a strong jaw. His nose was a tad large, but it oddly suited him, Taehyung decides. His lips had been bitten raw, but they still seemed so plush. And his voice god, it would probably sound even better when he wasn't embarrassed and nervous. In terms of appearance, he was totally Taehyung's type. Too bad the cutie seemed to have a drinking problem.

All that beer and NyQuill sleep aid? Tsk, why are most all the hot ones are troubled, bad influences (or whatever his mother used to say whenever Taehyung brought up a high school crush)?

His mind wanders once more, and he looks down at his arm with an almost woeful look. His soulmate hadn't drawn anything on themselves recently, and to say Taehyung had been disappointed would be an understatement. Although it's not his soulmate's fault, not really anyways. They didn't know there was another person looking at the drawings, waiting for something, anything, to prove they had someone practically made for them out there. How could they? Taehyung hadn't replied to the drawings, hadn't made his presence known and now he worries it may be too late to do so.

He shoves the depressing thoughts aside, telling himself that he's only allowed to think about his soulmate if 1). He's all alone and willing to possibly cry, with nothing to do the next day; or 2). He's asleep and therefore cannot blame himself for letting his mind wander, seeing as dreaming is quite literally just that. Letting your mind wander and creating different and unique scenarios to act out in.

The water had begun to turn cold now, and Taehyung shuts it off with a huff. He dried off and hopped into an oversized shirt and some boxers. He brushed his teeth and hair quickly before all but throwing himself onto his bed.

He's already so tired and just the thought of having to get up early tomorrow for another fansign before they fly home makes him groan. He shimmies under the sheets, wishing it would already be Halloween so he could sleep all day and then race to the stores to get all the Halloween candy that goes on sale the next morning.

His managers don't have to know, he decides with a mischievous and tired giggle as he slowly drifts off to sleep.

His dreams are filled with NyQuill chugging cuties and soulmates with artistic abilities.

* * *

October 31st, all hallows eve.

And also the day that Kim Seokjin can't seem to take a single step without wincing. Jungkook's been watching his friend closely from his seat by the windows. When Jin stomps his foot when laughing a bit too enthusiastically only to practically cry out in pain, Jungkook knows he's seen enough. Something is definitely wrong.

"Hyung, are you sure you're alright? You've been limping around all day," Jungkook asks as he gently pulls Seokjin aside with a concerned look. Seokjin pulls a strained smile, trying to do his best to diminish the younger's worries. "Of course I am, Kook-ah. It's just one of my feet have been hurting recently. It's nothing serious, I promise."

"Hyung, you looked like you were ready to pass out when you stomped your foot just a second ago. That's 'nothing serious'," Jungkook presses, eyes flickering over to the café entrance where a young girl had just stepped inside.

"Jungkook, really, nothing is wrong with me. Sometimes I just get all weird and hurt, but I promise nothing happened to me. The doctors say it just be a weird case of sympathy pains, but they aren't sure." Seokjin replies gently, sliding Jungkook's hands off his arms and giving them a little squeeze. "Now, I need to get back to work, and you need to get ready for a party." He smiles warmly at Jungkook and turns to leave.

Jungkook's brows furrow but when he opens his mouth to protest, Seokjin just shakes his head and leaves to help the customer. Jungkook pouts petulantly but doesn't say anything else as he grabs his coffee and the bag of treats Seokjin all but shoved at him.

"I'll see you around, take it easy, yeah, Hyung?" Jungkook calls to Seokjin who was now blending the girl's drink up. "Okay, have fun at your party tonight! Happy Halloween, Kook-ah!" Seokjin waves with a bright smile from behind the counter.

"You too, Hyung! Call me tomorrow and I'll hit up the stores for that discounted candy with you~!" Jungkook steps out of the café with a content smile as he begins to make his way over to Amber's dorm room to get ready for the party. Amber had his costume, apparently, because his bunny one wasn't "Sexy" enough or whatever. He tried to ignore the glare the Girl's dean was sending him as he made his way up the stairs, and waved shyly to the giggling freshmen girls who were whispering behind their hands as they ogled him. Amber grabbed his sweatshirt and pulled him inside hurriedly, slamming her door shut with a bang. Her pink hair was frazzled, her roots haven grown out so much that her hair that once brushed her shoulders now reached below her breasts. She had nothing on except a Goonies t-shirt and some underwear. (Apparently, Goonies is an American movie that she loves dearly, and promises to make Jungkook watch it).

"Sup bro," She says a greeting as she starts to walk over to where her closet is, pulling out some clothes. "This is your costume," She tosses Jungkook something before starting to strip out of her shirt. Jungkook rolls his eyes, already used to her shamelessness. If it was a few years ago he would have turned cherry red and freaked out (In fact, he did when she first got naked in front of him in a hot spring. "What? You're my best friend, besides it's just a body. Not like I'm going to throw myself at you or something, Gay-kook,").

"What is it?" Jungkook asks, turning his attention to the costume instead of where he breasts were exposed completely. Ugh, boobs. What some men and women see in them, he'll never know. They're just fat, and they sag with age, so…. "Well, why don't you, oh I don't know, look at it?" Amber responds sarcastically as she pulls a black and white striped tee over her head.

Jungkook cursed at her playfully before doing just as she said. It was a cop costume, he soon found out, and he couldn't keep in the scoff. "A cop? I mean, really? How clichéd can we get?" Jungkook raised an eyebrow at his friend, only to find that she was already in her costume.

She had on a striped crop top that revealed her belly button, and what had to be a pair of the tightest ripped black jeans he had ever seen. She winked at him before doing a little show of tip-toeing over exaggeratedly and picking up a black pillowcase with a large ₩ sign on one side of it and a $ on the other.

"Let me guess, you're a robber?" He deadpanned, although a smile was making a way onto his face. God, they're such gross best friends. Even getting matching themed costumes. "Ding, ding, ding, you won the lottery!" Amber said in English, pulling a laugh out of Jungkook who tried to repeat the words.

"Oh my god, Rebecca, we're gonna be so cute, all matchy-matchy~!," He says in a high, fake female voice but Amber just glares at him. "Um, yeah, we are going to be so cute. Besides, if we separate, you're a smoking cop who'll type up all the bad boys, and I'm the hot robber comin' to steal yo mans."

"A robber in my heart, why don't the police know?~" Jungkook rapped a bit of Lisa's part in Playing With Fire, making Amber crack a smile.

They sing BlackPink and Big Bang songs while getting ready.

Amber all but pounces on Jungkook, pulling out her makeup bag and insisting on doing it for him. So, a couple hours later, Jungkook's normally unruly black hair has been tamed by Amber ("You're a witch," Jungkook breathed after Amber set down her straightener with a satisfied nod), and his makeup was done artfully. She, herself had put in beautiful blue and green contacts (so that her eyes would pop from behind her black mask, she said), and had given herself dramatic eye make-up. A pair of falsies ("It's all about the eyes, Jungkook," She defended herself with a wink-from the one eye that had lashes already on) and lots of setting spray later, their makeup was done.

She curled her pink hair in delicate curls, put on extra deodorant ("What? Not all of us can sweat and still smell like roses," She gives Jungkook a pointed look who puts his hands up in surrender, laughing), and then put in some dangling earrings. She handed Jungkook some of her old nose rings and said he could probably use the hoops to fill out his piercings. He did as she said, putting her hoops into his cartilage and snapping it shut. "To be honest, I didn't know you used to have a nose piercing," Jungkook said as they made their way out of her dorm all dressed and ready to go. "Yeah, well, I used to wear studs a lot and eventually got tired of people asking if I had a booger in my nose when they saw the back of the stud, so, yeah." She shrugs, winking to some girls who were gawking at Jungkook again, throwing her arm around him and fake-biting at them.

To say the girls were both confused and a little scared would be complete honesty. Jungkook rolls his eyes but doesn't shove her off him.

When they arrive at Jackson's house, the party is already in full-swing, people outside, inside, on top, underneath the house. (No, really. Jungkook can see a couple making out underneath the deck. Why anyone would want to not only go under there, but also make out, he doesn't know.) The music is blasting loudly, but Jungkook's father was an Olympic athlete and apparently their loaded enough to own a mansion on a hill, away from society, so they can get as loud (and as illegal) as they want.

There were people screaming, laughing, singing, yelling, cheering, basically, anything boisterious you can imagine, they were doing it. Amber leads him inside, her arm still wrapped securely around his shoulders, and people greet her by name there.

"Amber-Noona!"

"Amber!"

"AUSSIE!"

She inclines her head at the people who cheer at her, but merely makes a path between the dancing bodies towards the kitchen. There are maybe ten people in the huge kitchen, but they all had cups in their hands and were in costumes. There were two women dressed as cats (honestly wouldn't be surprised if he saw at least thirty of those tonight) and- dear lord is that someone dressed as Big Bird?

Amber snaps her fingers in front of his face, getting his attention back on her. She was standing by the island that had a plethora of different alcohols and an abundance of scattered red solo cups. There was even a punch bowl that was a vibrant green and was 'oozing' 'smoke'. Jungkook stares at the dry ice in mild interest for a second.

Amber has to yell loudly over the thrumming of music and the loud voices, but Jungkook can hear her pretty well considering it all. "First order of business: get batshit drunk."

She pours Jungkook something made out of at least four different types of alcohol and hands it to him in a plastic cup, doing the same for herself. Jungkook takes a big sip of his drink, wincing and coughing loudly, "Jesus, what'd you put in here?!" He asks incredulously and she just shrugs smugly. "I'm not too sure, but I do know that this shit is some of the strongest I've ever had. It'll do just the job," She downs the right of her drink with a wince, before shaking her head and smiling crazily. Jungkook curses but he, too, takes a huge drink of the burning liquid. It burns as it slides down his throat, but he soon becomes accustomed to the warm feeling, even coming to crave it.

"Let's dance, yeah? Let's attract ourselves some men," She says after downing another drink, one that Jungkook hadn't even realized she'd gotten. Jungkook breathes in and controls the urge to choke, the house reeked of weed, alcohol, and sweaty bodies. Amber would probably head off to get high with the stoners later.

("I swear I've got a green card- Hold on," Amber said one day when Jungkook asked about it. "Here it is," Jungkook squinted at the writing on it, only to frown, "This is for an Abigale Green, Amber," "Your point being?")

She likes to claim that if she has a green card, the Korean police can't arrest her, right? ("They can, if the card isn't yours, Abigale,")

Jungkook and Amber made their way to the 'dance floor', if you will, and shoved their way into the middle. It was a gross, sweaty mess of limbs, but they still had fun. They danced together playfully, Jungkook even whipping out his derp dance, causing his friend to laugh gleefully-even more so now that the alcohol was starting to make them feel buzzed-before she excused herself to use the restroom.

Jungkook danced by himself for a while, even twerking with some girls and earning both laughter and interested looks from a number of people. Jungkook smiled and nodded to the women he'd been dancing with before leaving to get himself another drink and try to find his friend who'd left him. Jungkook was busy eyeing the labels on the bottles when a voice behind him makes him nearly drop it. "You've got some wild moves,"

Jungkook turns around to see a man in a Jason mask. They were leaning against the counter easily, legs sprawled out in front of them as they try to twirl a plastic knife on the tip of his finger. His eyes peer up at Jungkook from behind his white mask. "Hmm," is all the cop says, turning back around to pour himself a drink in hopes of getting the man to leave.

The man, however, doesn't seem to getting that he's being ignored, and instead walks around the island to stand on the opposite side of Jungkook. "I was watching you, you know? Before the whole twerking thing, even," wow, kind of creepy, "and to me it just kind of seemed like you were maybe a dancer or something? Like, professional?"

Jungkook stops pouring himself a drink and looks up at the man, both shocked and flattered that the person seemed to tell that Jungkook had, in fact, taken professional dance lessons with Hoseok before. The man pulls his mask off, his shiny black hair falling into his- now fully visible- eyes. Without the obnoxious prop in the way, Jungkook could see just how handsome this man really was.

Strong nose, sharp jaw, soft looking lips and warm, shining brown eyes lined with kohl. Jungkook sucked in a breath, feeling a little winded. The man smiles a bright, white smile and sticks his hand out for Jungkook to shake. "My name's Kim Yugyeom, and may I just say that you're killing the cop look today?"

Jungkook shakes his hand numbly, still kind of shocked by the sheer beauty of the man before him. "Jeon Jungkook, and might I just say that your costume is cliché and doesn't do you justice? I mean, why hide your face if you look like you do?" Jungkook smirks, releasing the man's hand to finally, finally, finish making his drink. It's the buzz of the alcohol and the atmosphere as a whole that let Jungkook act so confidently, to flirt so easily with this man.

Yugyeom smiles back and, is it just the lighting or is he blushing a bit? "Why're you all alone? I thought I saw you with your girlfriend earlier," A smooth, easy way to ask if he's single and in turn ask if he's into women.

"Who, the robber?" Jungkook asks as he sips his drink, leaning back on the counters behind him. Yugyeom nodded, picking up a random, abandoned cup and sniffing it. With shrug he drfinks out of it, causing Jungkook to snort. "Nah, she's just my friend. She ditched me though, 'prolly to get high or something in the bathroom."

Yugyeom hums, but his eyes bore into Jungkook's. "Why're you all alone?" Jungkook asks in turn, eyes never leaving Yugyeom's. "My friend's the one who's throwing the party, kinda lost him when people started to carry him towards the pool, cheering." He says simply, and Jungkook nods.

"So, since we both know you're dying to ask, but obviously don't have the balls to," Jungkook starts, downing his drink and slowly making his way over to the man, eyes sparkling with something dark. Something dangerous. Yugyeom swallows thickly, and Jungkook's eyes trail the movement. "Yes, I am gay, and no, these handcuffs aren't just for show,"

Whether it was Yugyeom or him that moved first, it didn't matter, because once their lips touched, it was like they couldn't get enough of each other. If amber had come back to find him, or if she didn't, it didn't seem to matter anymore as Jungkook's hands moved up to grab at the back of Yugyeom's fluffy black locks.

If his heart thrummed sadly and he felt guilty for doing this with someone who wasn't his soulmate, that didn't matter either, for the alcohol numbed him inside out and made everything deliciously cloudy.

If his mind stopped for a fraction of a second as Yugyeom guided him by the hand through the crowd and towards the grand staircase, Jungkook forced himself to think this is good. This is what you wanted, what you needed, to get over your stupid idol crush. This will help you, if you ever face Taehyung, to not freak out. Not make a fool out of yourself by wanting more than a platonic relationship.

If the universe was trying to tell him something by making them both stumble backwards and nearly fall off a balcony railing in their haste, Jungkook ignored it for all he could focus on was the feeling of Yugyeom's hands on his back, scratching him as he led him into an unoccupied room and locked the door.

If his mind flashed a familiar gray mop of hair and those expressive, brown eyes while he thrusts into Yugyeom that night, he doesn't remember it in the morning. He does, however, remember how the other man had pulled him into his chest, snuggling close as they drifted off into sleep, and how he had felt warm and safe for the first time in a long time.

How he didn't have nightmares and instead had pleasant dreams (but he still thinks he dreamt of a soulmate with silver hair and a wide smile).

Jungkook wakes up with a groan, sunlight streaming in through the windows and a pounding in his head. He also wakes up alone, he notes. Jungkook sits up and rubs at his eyes, hair sticking up with cowlick, and when he looks down at his hand, he sees he's gotten eyeliner and shadow on it now. He also sees that on his other hand was something written in black sharpie.

 _xxx-xxx-xxxx_

 _I had fun last night, and I'd love to grab coffee with you sometime. ;)_

 _Just text me! –Y_

Jungkook, despite himself, feels a smile blooming on his face. Last night before they'd fallen asleep, they'd talked for hours and found that they enjoyed a lot of the same things. And, Yugyeom seemed to make Jungkook laugh pretty easily, which is impressive for someone he'd just met.

Just a one night stand, his mind replayed his earlier plans for the evening, and he found himself frowning.

Perhaps, just this once, maybe he could give this whole 'non-soulmate relationship thing' a try. Just because his soulmate is dead, doesn't mean he has to hurt himself by being alone forever. Besides, it's not like Yugyeom's his-

"Jungkook~ My man," Jungkook jumps at the voice, and turns to look at the bathroom door across the room. Amber comes out fixing her bra strap and shirt, looking like a whole years' worth of mistakes. "Jesus you look like hell- also, how long have you been in there?" Jungkook scrunches up his nose when she comes and plops down face first next to him. She smells like a years' worth of mistakes, too.

"Long enough to hear you gettin it on with the pretty murderer boy! Ow, ow! You rascal, you!" She wiggles her eyebrows up at Jungkook who scoffs and pushes her aside playfully. "It's creepy that you stayed in there for so long and listened to your best friend having sex," Jungkook comments, a little serious but mostly teasing.

"Oh, don't worry I was too drunk and high to remember if you had any weird kinks or anything. Besides, this one dude like climbed all the way up and came inside through the window… I had some fun, if you know what I mean," Jungkook then notices the purple and blue hickeys scattered across her body and he feels a little weird knowing that they were both getting laid just a door away from each other.

"He climbed up? We're on, like, the third floor!" Jungkook says, swerving the conversation back to safety. Amber nods frantically from where she'd stuffed her face back into the pillow. "I know right, that's what was so crazy. It was also a little hot, not gonna lie-"

"God I'm too tired and hungover for this," Jungkook flops back onto the bed littered with solo red cups and other various remains of the party the night before.

(He saves the number under a contact named; Gyumie before dragging amber into the bathroom to try and wash the stench of party off them.)

(He also finds a crude drawing of a dick ejaculating on his inner thigh, compliments of Yugyeom. He can't find anything to wipe the permanent marker off, so he leaves it be for now)

(It isn't until he's home and showering properly that he sees the other penis-complete with hairy balls- smack dab on his forehead. God, Yugyeom sucks already)

* * *

Taehyung scowled down at his hand, the numbers staring up at him as if mocking him. _'I had fun last night,'_ and _'love to get coffee,'_ and the stupid, ' _-Y'_

Ugh god, his stomach churned with jealousy just looking at the note. Don't even get him started on the dicks! Who the fuck lets someone draw a dick on their foreheads when they know that someone else is going to have it as well?!

He probably doesn't know that, idiot. You never responded to his drawings the first time! Taehyung thinks bitterly as he fastens a bandana around his forehead in hopes of hiding the badly drawn genital on his skin. (he chooses to ignore the one on his thigh… for now,)

When he makes his way down the stairs, he's joined by Jimin who compliments the bandana with a bright smile. "We have to head to BigHit to help judge those art submissions," Jimin says as he tosses his best friend a sack of Halloween candy and the keys to his car. Taehyung tries to smile and act as happy as he can around his best friend, but for some reason, the thought of his soulmate with someone else (and the implications behind that message?!) has turned his mood melancholy and sour.

They arrive at the studios on time, nodding to the staff as they hurry to the conference room that they were meeting in. Taehyung sat down beside Yoongi and Jimin opposite him with Namjoon. Bang PD wasn't present, unfortunately, as he was busy working on their comeback. Namjoon had crutches resting on the wall behind him, and his foot currently in a blue cast from his last accident. Yoongi cleared his throat and passed a cardboard drink carrier down the middle of the table before pulling up one huge box of many onto his end of the table and dumping it out. Thousands of packages spilled out onto the table, and everyone inwardly groaned at the amount (although Jimin and Taehyung were also deeply flattered and honored that so many fans drew them).

"Alright, there's a lot of submissions so we've got coffee, you've got candy, and let's all hope we get done before sundown, yeah?" Yoongi says as he nods at the drinks on the table, Taehyung, however, would be having a chai tea. He never did like coffee very much.

It was about half way through the submissions that he saw one he particularly liked. It was a set of four in total, two watercolors and two sketches for both him and Jimin, and for some reason the art style seemed familiar. It was detailed and undeniably beautiful, so without an ounce of hesitation, Taehyung raised the manila package they came in and said "I like this one," making the other three members look up, interested. Taehyung so far hadn't said he liked a specific one, only making comments here and there. "Okay, you can put it with the others over there," Namjoon directed, showing Taehyung to the small pile where they put the ones they liked the most in.

Taehyung set it down but his fingers itched to be closer to it for some reason. He resists the urge to get up and grab it once more, forcing himself to look at more submissions in silence, the only sound being the occasional rip of a package and the crinkle of Halloween candy being opened.

The drawings still burned in the back of his mind as he tried to remember where he'd seen that art style before…

* * *

 ** _AN: Sorry for taking literally forever to update!  
Anyway, I re-wrote and added some stuff to the previous chapter, so I'd recommend you going back and reading it :)_**

 ** _Also, the writing might seem a little wonky here, but that's because FF removes all of my italics, bolds, spacings, (EVEN THE CUTE HEART EMOJIS WHY ARE U LIKE THIS FF NOW I HAD TO WRITE *heart* ASKGMDH), etc when I upload a chapter on here, which is so fucking annoying because I already did all of that when I wrote it the first time. Smh, it's like this every time and I just wanna_**

 ** _THROTTLE SOMEONE AHSAFNEKJGHF_**

 ** _I'm sorry lmao, I love you all and hope you have a wonderful day/evening! Hoping to see you much more often now that summer is here~!_**

 ** _I'd love to hear your feedback, and I'll see yall in the next chapter!_**

 _ **~MC**_


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